Summary

At the outset of Southeast, Less sets out in Rosina for Louisiana to join the theater troupe that is performing one of his stories in its entirety. At an RV park, the manager asks if he is from the Netherlands when he checks in. Less knows that “she is really, asking, without at all knowing she is asking it, without meaning anything in the world except that she detects a linguistic flourish, is Are you a homosexual” (131)? The next morning, Less purchases a “T-shirt, flip-flops, a baseball cap, a cowboy hat, a bolo tie, and six miniature American flags” (132). After donning the new outfit, Less pastes the flags onto the camper to ensure no one else suspects that he is Dutch. When Less arrives at Bramblebriar, Dorothy Howe-Gorbaty, the head of the acting troupe, greats him emphatically. She explains that they have...