A comprehensive analysis of all of Lee Smith's fiction up through her 2006 novel, On Agate Hill, including her short stories, this study argues that Smith's fiction examines the psychological challenges of living in a society that is, on some level, "rootless." Using post-structuralist theory and narratology, Bennett elucidates Smith's unique narrative explorations of identity. She argues that Smith has made an important contribution to Southern literature, in her consistent focus on the Southerner's post-Civil War self-conflict, and to contemporary literature in general.