Virginius Dabney, a native of Gloucester County, was an ex-lawyer who taught and wrote. His most famous novel was "The Story of Don Miff" which described the life of the plantation owners prior to the War between the States. His last novel before his death was "Gold That Did Not Glitter."
Father John Banister Tabb was a native of Amelia County who became a personal friend of the poet, Sidney Lanier. His "Poems," "Lyrics," "Child Verse" and "Later Lyrics" are still popular reading for poetry-lovers.
Christopher P. Cranch should be mentioned for his translation of Virgil's "Aeneid" into English in 1875. Like George Sandys who translated Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Cranch's translation promoted better understanding of the "Aeneid" on the part of Americans.
Thomas Nelson Page, a native of Hanover County, became famous from a literary viewpoint when he published in 1887 six stories in a book called "In Ole Virginia." The first story is called "Marse Chan," and is written in Negro dialect. Page, like John Cooke, wrote pleasingly, though not entirely accurately, about conditions in the South after the War between the States. His writings served as a tonic to the depressed and hard-struggling Virginians who were striving to rebuild their state to its former prosperous status. Page also wrote "Two Little Confederates" for juvenile reading and non-fiction articles as well as fiction ones. Some of the non-fiction ones include "The Old Dominion: Her Making and Her Manners," "The Old South" and "Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier."
Mary Johnston, born at Buchanan, is sometimes classified as a transitional writer as she wrote at the end of the Nineteenth Century and also at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. She is considered a writer of historical realism although originally she began writing as a romanticist. Her writings included "To Have and To Hold," "Prisoner of Hope," "Cease Firing," "The Long Roll," "The Slave Ship," "The Great Valley," "Hagar," "Silver Cross," "Croatan," "Michael Forth" and "The Exile." She lived near Warm Springs when she wrote the last six books, and she utilized the style of mysticism in these works. Her style was a great contrast to the earlier hero-worshiping and glorification of ante-bellum days in Virginia.
John Fox, Jr. of Big Stone Gap used the Cumberland Mountain residents for the characters of his novel, "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." A visitor to Bound Gap may view the countryside described in this book and still see the spot where the evergreen tree, reputed to be the original Lonesome Pine, stood. The activities of the mountain folk themselves and his own mining experiences in West Virginia mines furnished John Fox, Jr., with most of his plot sequences. His other two most well-known novels are "The Kentuckians" and "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come."
Virginia Hawes Terhune, a native of Dennisville, Amelia County, and mother of Albert Payson Terhune, used the nom-de-plume of "Marian Harland." She wrote newspaper articles about household activities and travel books, fiction books and a famous cookbook. Her last book was "The Carringtons of High Hill."
William Cabell Bruce, a native of Charlotte County, was a distinguished author who was editor of the "University of Virginia Magazine" and who won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1918. His prize-winning biography was "Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed."
Ellen Glasgow, a native of Richmond, was one of the most distinguished modern American novelists. She wrote her first novel at the age of eighteen and chose this type of work for her career. In an era of sentimental and romantic writing, she dared to inject severe realism. She has sometimes been characterized as a romantic realist having no hesitation in frankly portraying weaknesses as well as the strength of her beloved Virginia. Her novels depicted scenes of the South and featured a broad background, rather than a comparatively small segment of people or a few isolated places. In her novels, Miss Glasgow presents a social history of Virginia from about 1851 to 1945. Her writings include "The Voice of the People," "The Battle-Ground," "The Deliverance," "The Romance of a Plain Man," "The Miller of Old Church," "Virginia," "Life of Gabriella," "Barren Ground," "The Romantic Comedians," "They Stooped to Folly," "The Sheltered Life," "Vein of Iron" and "In This Our Life." She published her first two volumes anonymously: "The Descendant" and "Phases of an Inferior Planet." Her last novel, "In This Our Life," won the Pulitzer Prize in 1942.