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On The Bookshelf
True Grits: With Carolina on his mind, Eli Evans,
the poet laureate of Southern Jewry,
has updated his landmark "The Provincials"
25 years after it first appeared.
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SANDEE BRAWARSKY
Special to The Jewish News
also the author of Judah 1? Benjamin:
The Jewish Confederate, which he
worked on for ten years, and The
IV
Lonely Days Were Sundays: Reflections of
a Jewish Southerner, a collection of
essays. His next book is about
American Jews and the institution of
•
slavery.
In The Provincials, Evans' story-
telling gifts translate into an engaging
narrative on the page. He depicts the
paradox of having "inherited the
Jewish longing for a homeland while
being raised with the Southerner's
sense of home."
ithin moments of meet-
ing Eli Evans, it's clear
that he's not the typical
New Yorker. He's more
polite than most, and he's a natural
storyteller. But it's his accent that
places his roots far from even New
York's outer boroughs: He's a son of
Durham, N.C., where his father was
the first Jewish mayor in the city's his-
tory. Evans wears his Southern
Jewishness the way a Texan wears
his Stetson, with pride.
i.
But don't expect to find him sit-
ting on a porch, strumming the
banjo (although he does play). He's
a son of Gotham too, having moved
to New York in 1969, and he's a
well-connected New Yorker. In his
Madison Avenue office, Evans
directs the Revson Foundation,
which supports projects in urban
affairs, education, biomedical
research and Jewish education.
Last fall, a new edition of Evans'
landmark book, The Provincials: A
in the South
Personal History of
(The Free Press; $16) was pub-
lished. Originally published in
1973, the book, a successful combi-
nation of journalism, autobiography
and history that explores the
nuances of Southern Jewish identity Eli N Evans: "The burden of bein Mister
— and belongs on bookshelves next Jew envelops you in a cocoon of sel -con-
sciousness, an extra dimension to whatever
to Irving Howe's classic World of
you say or do — the small voice always
Our Fathers — has stayed in print
whispering, 'What impression are you mak-
for almost 25 years, which is an
ing?'
unusual feat. For this updated ver-
sion, Evans has added a new intro-
duction and five new chapters bring-
In researching the book, he traveled
ing the book up to date and looking
7,000 miles, to cities and small towns
toward the future.
from Virginia to Texas, interviewing
"The Jews of the South have found
Eastern European-born old-age horne
their poet laureate," Israeli statesman
residents, who had turned their ped-
Abba Eban has said of Evans. A for-.
dling
trade into department stores;
mer aide and speechwriter in the
Hadassah
activists who knew his
Lyndon Johnson White House, he is
grandmother, founder of the first
Southern branch in 1919, and his
Sandee Brawarsky is a New York-
mother, who organized chapters
based book critic.