A leading figure in modern southern literature, described by
Newsweek
as "one of the best American storytellers," Peter Taylor secured a national following through his long relationship with the
New Yorker
and his widely read volumes from the 1980s,
The Old Forest and Other Stories
and
A Summons to Memphis
. The Pulitzer Prize—winning author's portrayals of the battles of strong—willed fathers and mothers with their equally strong—willed sons are at the center of his achievement in fiction.
David Robinson presents Taylor as a writer deeply concerned with the interworkings of family relationships, and emphasizes his role as chronicler of the shifts in southern culture in this century.
World of Relations
provides an important critical assessment of the work of one of the South's greatest writers, and includes the first extensive critical discussion of Taylor's last two works,
The Oracle of Stoneleigh Court
(1993) and
In the Tennessee Country
(1994).