This month marks the 75th anniversary of the first publication of Gone with the Wind, a novel that was initially derided by some as “second-rate trash” and beloved by generations as the prototypical romance novel. Michael Kreyling, a scholar of Southern literature at Vanderbilt, says neither characterization is correct.
“It’s no coincidence that the book found huge popularity upon its release in the 1930s as America struggled to find ways out of the Great Depression,” he says. He sees Scarlett O’Hara as “a ruthless entrepreneur who is not going to be stopped by convict labor or anything.”
The work holds up well as literature; it is well-researched and the plot continues to grip new generations. But, he says, the first part of the novel is “like a big amnesia pill” that leaves readers “to believe that plantations were benevolent patriarchies and the most trying thing you ever had to think about was what color gown you were going to wear to the barbecue.”
The second half is a more accurate representation, especially those sections in which formerly pampered women toil in the fields, Scarlett is outraged at the concept of paying taxes and the South struggles back to its economic feet.”