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A. C. Greene claimed he wrote his autobiographical A Personal
Country "to find out, from one life in one region, if all of us are not
gifted from the soil whence we sprang, seeded by the people, and
watered by the times."
	
   Bert Almon suggests that Texas autobiography reveals as much
about the state as it does the writer, recording geography and
history; and economic, social, and religious practices. A sense of
place distinguishes Texas autobiographical writing, for it springs
from a state considered unique by its citizens and the world in
general. Texas' history—migrations, war with Mexico, brief
nationhood, slavery, Indian Wars, the Civil War, the Mexican
diaspora of the twentieth century—these all contribute to what
Almon calls Texas' "exceptionalism."

     Early writers in this collection—Matthews, Lomax, Beasley,
Dobie, Stillwell, and others—recall a traditional Anglo Texas, a
world of small towns, farms, and ranches. But these writers record,
sometimes with anticipation, the approach of the modern age.
Dobie and J. Houghton Allen identify strongly with particular spots
of land, their "beloved land." And Greene and McMurtry use
region as a means of explaining themselves.

 The Anglo tradition presents a world of stalwart, independent,
hard-working people, but not all the memoirists in this volume
recall that kind of family. Beasley, Owens, and Karr speak of
dysfunctional families that shaped a stubborn sense of self.

 Other writers record a Texas outside the Anglo tradition—an
urban, high-tech, multicultural society. Black and Chicano writers
are most aware of the Anglo tradition because they recall its
prejudices. In seeking to define themselves, and their cultural and
racial heritage, their family stories become more important than the
landscape.

 If we read autobiography unconsciously hoping to learn about
the land, we read it deliberately to learn about the writer.
Autobiography is a storytelling process of self-discovery, a process
of giving meaning to remembered life. Some authors, like Karr,
recreate the earlier self; others, like Humphrey, maintain the
difference between child and adult and interpret the child from the
adult point of view.

Memoirs from multicultural authors or from someone like Karr,
who shows little interest in the state itself, may suggest that Texas
exceptionalism is disappearing. Almon suggests that Texas is
indeed moving ever close to mainstream America, but there is, he
says, enough exceptionalism to last a while. His lively and
insightful discussions of these authors reinforce that idea.


Includes discussions of:
Sallie Reynolds Matthews, John A. Lomax, J. Frank Dobie,
Gertrude Beasley, Hallie Crawford Stillwell, Jewel Babb, 
C. C. White, Annie Mae Hunt, A. C. Greene, William Humphrey,
Larry McMurtry, Pat Mora, Gloria López-Stafford, Ray Gonzalez,
Mary Karr and John Philip Santos.

_________________________________________________________

BERT ALMON was born in Port Arthur, Texas, and educated at
the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of New
Mexico. Since 1968 he has taught modern literature and creative
writing at the University of Alberta. He has published eight
collections of poetry and a critical biography of William
Humphrey.