Kansas (Location Key)

The 3 occurrences of Kansas in the fictions occur in chronological order, both historical and literary. Although Light in August doesn't use the term, for most of the time during Nathaniel Burden's travels in Kansas between 1850 and 1866, the territory was known as 'Bleeding Kansas.' During the decade preceding statehood in 1861, Kansas was the scene of violent fighting between pro- and anti-slavery forces. In The Hamlet, published seven years later, Jack Houston lives in Kansas for a while in the 1880s, working in the state's iconic wheat fields. And in "Knight's Gambit," published still later, Captain Gualdres is stationed in Kansas as a private in the U.S. Army early in World War II. (See also Leavenworth Prison in this index.)