If Allan Gurganus's first comic novel, "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," mapped the late nineteenth-century South, his latest book, "Local Souls," brings the twisted hilarity of Flannery O'Connor kicking into the 21st century.

This first work in a decade offers three novellas mirroring today's face-lifted South, a zone revolutionized around freer sexuality, looser family ties, and superior telecommunications, yet it celebrates those locals who have chosen to stay local.