The Fugitive was an influential literary magazine devoted to poetry and published by a group of writers and intellectuals known as "The Fugitives" who gathered around Vanderbilt University in the early 20th century. This is the story of four of those poets – John Crowe Ransom, Donald Davidson, Allen Tate and Robert Penn Warren – and how these Nashville poets would forever impact literature and redefine southern poetry.
This NPT original production was made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission. Archival materials, poetry recordings and research assistance generously provided by Vanderbilt University Special Collections. Additional photographs courtesy of the Library of Congress and the Tennessee State Museum.
Interviews
JAY CLAYTON, Scholar
Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Vanderbilt University, Clayton received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and is the author of several books including Charles Dickens in Cyberspace, winner of the Suzanne M. Glasscock Humanities Prize.
MICHAEL KREYLING, Scholar
Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, Kreyling received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and is the author of six books including Figures of the Hero in Southern Narrative and Inventing Southern Literature, which won the Eudora Welty Prize.
WYATT PRUNTY, Poet
Professor of English at Sewanee, the University of the South, Prunty earned his Ph.D. from LSU and is the founding director of the Sewanee Writers' Conference and editor of the Sewanee Writers' Series. He is the author of six collections of poetry including Unarmed and Dangerous: New and Selected Poems.
LOUIS D.RUBIN JR., Author, Publisher
Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at UNC Chapel Hill, Rubin co-founded Algonquin Books and is the author or editor of more than 50 titles. A literary critic, historian, editor and novelist, his entire career was focused on Southern literature. He founded the Society for the Study of Southern Literature and co-founded the Southern Literary Journal. His numerous honors include the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts in Letters and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Book Critics Circle.
