As is probably the case with all twentieth-century writers of the American South who deal in quirky narratives replete with violence, Barry Hannah has had his share of encounters with critics and readers who reduce him to an update of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, or Flannery O'Connor. Hannah's present employment at the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") allows him to shrug at what he has dubbed "the Faulkner industry," by virtue of his presence at its center. In fact, Hannah lives in the shadow of the Compson House, where Faulkner had Benjy look out at the world. This detachment from within the storm is a pattern for him, as he places himself at a distance from the currents of what pass for mainstream literary considerations. His engaged disengagement is one of the few mainstays in a vigorous career that recalls more of the experimental fire of Charlie Parker...