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Gone with the Wind is a 1936 American novel by Margaret Mitchell set in the Old South during the American Civil War and Reconstruction.^[1] The novel won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning 1939 film of the same name. It was also adapted during the 1970's into a stage musical titled Scarlett; there is also a 2008 new musical stage adaptation in London's West End titled Gone With The Wind. It is the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime, and it took her ten years to write it. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies (see list of best-selling books). Over the years, the novel has also been analyzed for its symbolism and treatment of mythological archetypes. ^[2]

Contents 1 Specifications 2 Background 3 Plot summary 4 Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind 5 Sequels 6 Adaptations 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 Scholarship 11 External links

[edit] Specifications

• Author = Margaret Mitchell
• illustrator =
• Genre =
• Publisher = Macmillan Publishers
• Publication Date = June 30, 1936
• Nature of Rarity =
• Number in Existence =
• Estimated Value =

[edit] Background

The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae^[3] by Ernest Dowson: "I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind." The novel's protagonist Scarlett O'Hara also uses the title phrase in a line of dialogue in the book: when her hometown is overtaken by the Yankees, she wonders if her home, a plantation called Tara, is still standing, or if it was "also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia".

[edit] Plot summary

Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia Southern belle named Scarlett O'Hara and her experiences with friends, family, lovers, and enemies before, during, and after the Civil War. Using Scarlett's life, Mitchell examined the effect of the War on the old order of the South, and the aftermath of the war on what was left of the southern planter class. The plot of Gone with the Wind contains many details which have triggered spin-off concepts,^[4] parodies, and cultural influences over the past decades; however, the plot has been shortened here for the sake of brevity.

[edit] Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind

[edit] Sequels

Although Mitchel refused to write a sequel to Gone With The Wind, Mitchel's estate authorised Alexandra Ripley to write the novel Scarlett in 1991.

Author Pat Conroy was approached to write a follow-up, but the project was ultimately abandoned.^[5]

In 2000, the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone, a book that retold the story from the point of view of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an injunction against publication in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin (2001), on the basis that the book was parody protected by the First Amendment. The parties subsequently settled out of court to allow the book to be published. After its release, the book became a New York Times bestseller.

In 2002, the copyright holders blocked distribution of an unauthorised sequel published in the U.S, The Winds of Tara by Katherine Pinotti, alleging copyright infringement. The book was immediately removed from bookstores by publisher Xlibris. The book sold in excess of 2,000 copies within 2 weeks before being removed.

A second sequel has been released in November of 2007. The story covers the same time period as Gone with the Wind and is told from Rhett Butler’s perspective. Written by Donald McCaig, this novel is titled Rhett Butler's People (2007).^[4]

[edit] Adaptations

Gone With The Wind has been adapted several times for stage and screen, most famously in the 1930s film starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. On stage it has been adapted as a musical Scarlett (premiering in 1972), and was again adapted as a musical called Gone With The Wind which premiered at the New London Theatre in 2008 in a production directed by Trevor Nunn.^[6]

[edit] See also

• Southern Renaissance
• Southern literature
• Lost Laysen, a 1916 novella written by Mitchell and the only other known literary work of hers to ever be published.
• Scarlett, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind
• Rhett Butler's People, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• O. Levitski and O. Dumer, "Bestsellers: Color Symbolism and Mythology in Margaret Mitchell’s Novel Gone with the Wind" (literary analysis), Americana: The Institute for the Study of American Popular Culture, Sept. 2006, webpage:APC-Mitchell.
• Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the "real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations by Dr. E. Lee Spence, (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, ©1995) [ISBN 1886391017] [ISBN 1886391009], OCLC: 32431590

[edit] Scholarship

• Matthews, James W. “The Civil War of 1936: Gone with the Wind and Absalom, Absalom!” Georgia Review 21 (Winter 1967): 462-69.
• May, Robert E. “Gone with the Wind as Southern History: A Reappraisal.” Southern Quarterly 17.1 (Fall 1978): 51-64.
• Ryan, Tim A. Calls and Responses: The American Novel of Slavery since Gone with the Wind. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008.

[edit] External links

• The story behind Gone with the Wind
• Gone with the Wind (the film)
• Photos of the first edition of Gone With the Wind
• Life Response in Gone with the Wind on Humanscience wikia
• Free public domain eBook for people who live in Australia
• Gone with the Wind on Literapedia