American literary regionalism

American literary regionalism, often used interchangeably with the term "local color", is a style or genre of writing in the United States that gained popularity in the mid-to-late 19th century and early 20th century. In this style of writing, which includes both poetry and prose, the setting is particularly important and writers often emphasize specific features, such as dialect, customs, history and landscape, of a particular region, often one that is "rural and/or provincial".[1] Regionalism is influenced by both 19th-century realism and Romanticism, adhering to a fidelity of description in the narrative but also infusing the tale with exotic or unfamiliar customs, objects, and people.

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Literary critics argue that nineteenth-century literary regionalism helped preserve American regional identities while also contributing to domestic reunification efforts after the Civil War.[2] Richard Brodhead argues in Cultures of Letters, "Regionalism's representation of vernacular cultures as enclaves of tradition insulated from larger cultural contact is palpably a fiction ... its public function was not just to mourn lost cultures but to purvey a certain story of contemporary cultures and of the relations among them" (121).[3]

Amy Kaplan, in contrast, debates race relations, empire, and literary regionalism in the nineteenth century, noting that "regions painted with 'local color' are traversed by the forgotten history of racial conflict with prior regional inhabitants, and are ultimately produced and engulfed by the centralized capitalist economy that generates the desire for retreat" (256). Critic Eric Sundquist ultimately suggests the social inequity inherent in the aesthetic distinction between realist and regionalist authors, noting: "Economic or political power can itself be seen to be definitive of a realist aesthetic, in that those in power (say, white urban males) have been more often judged 'realists,' while those removed from the seats of power (say, Midwesterners, blacks, immigrants, or women) have been categorized as regionalists" (503).[4]

Characteristics

Any literary movement will have its diversity, but there are certain shared characteristics that help to define a literary movement. In the case of regionalism, these characteristics include the following:[5]

  • A focus on the setting of the story, often to such a degree that it appears little else happens beyond description of the setting and people;
  • Characters that are somewhat stereotypical, offering a picture of (actual or perceived) common traits from that region;
  • A great deal of nostalgia and resistance to change;
  • Use of local dialect, especially in the dialogue; and
  • Thick description of people, places, and things that the author means to highlight.

Regional writers

References
  1. J.A Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984, p.560.
  2. "The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture — Amy Kaplan | Harvard University Press". www.hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  3. Cultures of Letters.
  4. Elliott, Emory (1991). The Columbia History of the American Novel. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231073608. Columbia Literary History of the novel.
  5. "Regionalism and Local Color Fiction". public.wsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
  6. Campbell, Donna M. (2017-10-10). "Regionalism and Local Color Fiction, 1865-1895". Dept. of English, Washington State University. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  7. Blight, David W. (2001). Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England. p. 444n21. ISBN 0-674-00819-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J. (2012). "Introduction". In Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J. (eds.). John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. p. xxi. ISBN 978-1-61148-420-5.

Bibliography
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