All that is noble and young andnrebellious and brave. Tenacity innthe darkest hour. Respect forntruth, integrity, character, andnduty. That is the flag of the warnfor Southern independence.nWho’s to say she’s wrong about that?nNot Jane Tompkins of the Duke Englishndepartment, who says that “reader-response”ncritics like herself “denynthe existence of objective texts andnindeed the possibility of objectivity altogethern[thus making discourse] responsiblenfor reality and not merely a reflectionnof it.” Not her colleague FranknLentricchia, either; what he says ofnliterature—that it “is inherently nothing,nor it is inherently a body of rhetoricalnstrategies waiting to be seized” — isnsurely even more true of colors on ancloth.nSo get this: we must establish andnmaintain a counterhegemonic discourse.nBecause the flag is a text thatneach reader (re)constructs for her/nhimself, we must foreground its semioticninterrelationship with the historic nationalnliberation struggle of a ThirdnWorld people, resisting the attempt tonprivilege the hegemonic reading.n(How’m I doing?)nBuried in this steaming pile of trendynDispatches from the. Southnb.s. is a valid point, which is that sincen1865 rebellious spirits of many nationsnhave seen the Confederate flag as ansymbol of freedom. Many have seen thenSouthern cause as the cause of libertyn—tragically flawed by its link to humannbondage, sure, but the Confederatesnpaid the price for that.nYou don’t believe me? Read thenaccount in Southern Daughter, a newnbiography of Margaret Mitchell comingnout in September, of how GonenWith the Wind was received. It wasnread around campfires on both sides ofnthe Spanish Civil War: each side, believingnits cause was just, identifiednwith the Confederates. Later, the booknwas popular among the anti-Nazi resistance,nthen within the captive nationsnof Eastern Europe.nI can attest to that last audience. Onnmy office wall is a news photo fromnErfurt, formerly of the German DemocraticnRepublic, shortly after its liberation.nIt shows Chancellor Kohl speakingnto a large crowd in the town square.nMany of his listeners wave WestnGerman flags. Far in the back, however,none citizen is waving a batfle flag ofnthe late C.S.A.nAnd I can top even that. For a whilenlast year I had a folded Confederatenflag on my office desk. (I guess thatnWHISTLING DIXIEnDispatches fromnthe SouthnJohn Shelton ReednForeword bynEugene Genovesen’If you’re interested in the South speeifieall’ or proxoe.ntie writing generally, you 11 hnd mueli m here that isninstructi’e and amusing. . . . Read Whistlinjj Dixie, andnyou will be tow.”n—^Jonathan Yardley, The Wasljinjjton Pos.n”Witty, ele’er, irrex’erent His snappy, sassy eom-n44/CHRONICLESnekle voin car.n-The Kansas City Stnnnneeds some explaining. It was therenbecause an Israeli friend had written tonask a favor. His eighteen-year-old son,na tank gunner in the Israeli army, hadnbeen reading about Nathan BedfordnForrest and wanted a rebel flag to flynfrom his turret. You’d be surprised hownhard it is to find a Confederate flag innChapel Hill these days, but when I putnout a call for help, I got two flags, onenfrom a Kappa Alpha of my acquaintance,nthe other from a friend whonhappened to be passing Stuckey’s onnthe interstate. I sent one on to thenGolan Heights—where it flies today: Inhave a photograph. The other I put onnmy messy desk.)nAnyway, one day, I had a visitor, anscholar from Tbilisi, Soviet Georgia,non an American tour. He saw the flagnon my desk, recognized it, and askednwhere he could get one. Naturally, Ininsisted that he take mine.nNow, I don’t know if he reallynunderstood what he was saying, butnafter he thanked me he said (and Inswear this is true), “Someday this willnfly in a free Georgia.”nJohn Shelton Reed comes from EastnTennessee, where Confederate flagsnare more common now than they werenin 1861-65.nORDERFOEMnPlease send me copies of Whistling Dixie: Dispatchesnfrom the South at the list price of $19.95.nNamenAddressnCitynState ZipnDaytime Phone #_nMethod of Paymentnn MasterCard D Visa • check or money order enclosednAccount numbernSignaturenExpiration DatenSubtotal S_n6.475% sales tax (MO residents) $_nShipping and Handling Fee S_nTOTAL SnFor faster service, credit card customers can call the tollfreennumber 1-800-828-1894. Shipping and Handlingnfee: $3.00 for the first book; $.50 for each additional booknordered. Send orders and payment to:nUniversity of Missouri Pressn2910 LeJVIone Boulevard • Columbia, MO 65201n