We Are the Living

We Are the Living is a 1933 collection of short stories by Erskine Caldwell, comprising some of this writer's earlier works.

Style

The stories are of different characters, some obviously intended as humorous or satirical while others are lyrical, romantic and/or tragic. Most of them are laid against the background of the lives of ordinary people in the contemporary US South, the social milieu most familiar to the author - some being specifically located in his home state of Georgia.

The word "nigger" occurs in some of the stories, sometimes—but not invariably—in a pejorative sense; at the time of writing its use was not yet considered unacceptable, and it was certainly used in the daily spoken language which Caldwell sought to reproduce.

Contents

The stories in the book include:

• "Warm River"
• "We Are Looking at You, Agnes"
• "The People's Choice"
• "Indian Summer"
• "Rachel"
• "The Medicine Man"
• "Picking Cotton"
• "Meddlesome Jack"
• "The Picture"
• "Yellow Girl"
• "August Afternoon"
• "Mama's Little Girl"
• "The First Autumn"
• "After-Image"
• "Crown-Fire"
• "The Empty Room"
• "Over the Green Mountains"
• "The Grass Fire"
• "A Woman in the House"
• "Country Full of Swedes"

External links

• Cover of the first edition