Paris Trout (Magill’s Literary Annual 1989)
At a glance:
- Author: Pete Dexter
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Sometime in the 1950's
- Setting: Cotton Point, a small Georgia town
- Principal Characters: Paris Trout, Hanna Trout, Buster Devonne, Harry Seagraves, Ward Townes, Carl Bonner, Leslie Bonner, Rosie Sayers, Edward Fixx, Mary Mcnutt, Henry Ray Boxer
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Racism, Blacks, Race, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Social issues, Trials, Domestic violence, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Cities or towns
- Locales: Georgia
Peter Dexter's third novel, winner of the National Book Award for fiction, deals with the violent chain of events set off by the fatal shooting of a black girl by a white man, but it is less concerned with racial relations than with the effect of the event on the white community of Cotton Point, Georgia. Because he represents an older way of looking at the two races, Paris Trout is unable to conceive that he has made a mistake, much less that he has done anything morally wrong, and the consequences of his attitude are thoroughly destructive for him and for those who come in contact with...
[The entire page is 2082 words long]
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