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Size | 10.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1500 items) |
Abstract | The collection of Jerry "Jake" Leath Mills (1938-2012), an essayist, editor, and professor of English Renaissance literature, contains draft writings by Mills and other authors, correspondence with authors, newspaper clippings, printed materials, audio and video recordings, and subject files. Most materials reflect Mills' work as an editor and book reviewer. Authors represented in the collection include Larry Brown of Oxford, Miss., Wayne Caldwell, Tim McLaurin, Clyde Edgerton, Terry Roberts, Cecelia Conway, and Bland Simpson. The subject files focus on the "dead mule" in southern literature, the subject of his 1996 essay titled "Equine Gothic: The Dead Mule as Generic Signifier in Southern Literature" and the musical King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running for which Mills contributed lyrics. Also included is a 1995 final draft of Billy Bob Thornton's screenplay for the feature film Sling Blade. Acquired as part of the Southern Historical Collection. |
Creator | Mills, Jerry Leath. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
This summary description was created in November 2017 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.
Encoded by: Laura Smith
Back to TopJerry "Jake" Leath Mills (1938-2012) of Burlington, N.C., taught English Renaissance literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 31 years. After retiring from UNC in 1996, Mills taught at East Carolina University and Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H.
Mills reviewed books for the Raleigh News & Observer, and he was the editor of the journal Studies in Philology from 1980 to 1996.
His 1996 Southern Literary Journal essay "Equine Gothic: The Dead Mule as Generic Signifier in Southern Literature" is widely considered a classic and was featured in the New York Times not long after it was first published, inspiring a literary cottage industry of "dead mule spotting" in southern fiction. His essays "Store Lunch" and "Chitlin Function" appeared in the journal Southern Cultures.
Mills contributed original lyrics and stories to the musicals King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running and Pump Boys and Dinettes.
Information for this note was compiled from his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimesnews/obituary.aspx?pid=158745781 (Accessed October 2017)
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