Description

Encyclopedia article about the novel Swamp Water. The first novel by Vereen Bell, Swamp Water was published initially in serial form in the Saturday Evening Post in November and December 1940, and then in book form by Little, Brown in February 1941. It was an immediate sensation in the South and across the nation. Bell, a native of Cairo, Georgia, edited American Boy-Youth's Companion during the late 1930s, and returned home in 1940 to write fiction full-time. Swamp Water made him a wealthy man. The narrative, which concerns the exploits of a young boy, his hunting dog, and a fugitive hiding out in the Okefenokee Swamp, was so appealing that Bell was able to sell the movie rights to Twentieth Century Fox for $15,000. The studio made the film in the summer of 1941 and premiered it in October in Waycross. Swamp Water and its author are often lauded in south Georgia for bringing recognition to the area and "international fame" to the Okefenokee Swamp.

Record Contributed By

New Georgia Encyclopedia

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia