Mississippi History: Stories

Evoking neither larger emotional resonance nor a particular setting, this collection of nine stories are largely forgettable bouts with misery. Sharecroppers contrast with a conservative elite as both worlds live through difficult times. The trouble is that neither world is depicted clearly enough to capture the reader's sympathies. It's like Yarbrough's town, Indianola, Miss.: Although filled with Southern landmarks-the Piggly Wiggly, Ole Miss, the Delta-the familiar names are ciphers that substitute for setting. Again and again, the narration's broad strokes leave little to the reader's imagination. ``Stay-Gone Days'' and ``Hungarian Stew'' rely on absent emotion and lengthy flashbacks to tie up their plots, while the social and racial undertones of ``Black Angus'' and the title story read like contemporary parables. Unfortunately, most of Yarbrough's (Family Man) characters suffer a dull voicelessness and a dim likeness to any number of Southern cliches. (Sept.)