SOURCE: Gretlund, Jan Nordby. “Josephine Humphreys's New Southerner.” In Frames of Southern Mind: Reflections on the Stoic, Bi-Racial & Existential South, pp. 219-30. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1998.

In the following essay, first published in 1996, Gretlund discusses Josephine Humphreys's existentialism as seen through the choices her characters make in their daily lives and in particular Southern locales.

In his book on Space and Place Yi-Fu Tuan argues that place is different from space due to “locational qualities” associated with the contemplation of place.¹ From his mentioning of “the security and stability” of place it is clear that Yi-Fu Tuan endows place with values and complex emotions. “Place” is a more comprehensive word than “scene” or “landscape,” it comprehends not only the natural physical characteristics, but also the sensory and imaginative experience of the setting. Place and sense of place both depend for their meaning on the human element, the...