Debate on whether American Southern Literature still exists in the postmodern era poses a hot topic in contemporary literary world. Among the many southern-born writers, Richard Ford publicly denied to be labeled as a southern writer. The author of this paper holds a close study of how time and place, two major traditional southern themes are treated in Richard Ford’s Sportswriter, and draws the conclusion that despite the southern staples embedded in the novel, Richard Ford, as a representative of postmodern writers, works for a national or even universal writing by successfully fusing southern tradition and postmodern temper in a crossroad of history. Debate on whether American Southern Literature still exists in the postmodern era poses a hot topic in contemporary literary world. Among the many southern-born writers, Richard Ford publicly denied to be labeled as a southern writer. The author of this paper holds a close study of how time and place, two major traditional southern themes are treated in Richard Ford’s Sportswriter, and draws the conclusion that despite the southern staples embedded in the novel, Richard Ford, as a representative of postmodern writers, works for a national or even universal writing by successfully fusing southern tradition and postmodern temper in a crossroad of history.