A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America

A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America is the most comprehensive resource yet published for study of this popular field. Containing more than 30 original essays from both established and up–and–coming scholars, the volume presents: A history of the concept of regionalism, from the early years of the republic through to the current renaissance of literature rooted in place. A broad spectrum of theoretical approaches, including those drawn from ecology, cultural studies, feminism, and Native American studies. Profiles of the literature of specific regions of the United States, from California to New England and from Alaska to Hawaii. Discussions of authors and groups who have been important in defining or promoting regional American literature. This wide–ranging Companion is both an exploration of the concept of regionalism, and a celebration of the diversity of American regional literatures.

List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part I: History and Theory of Regionalism in the United States:. 1. Contemporary Regionalism: Michael Kowalewski (Carleton College). 2. The Cultural Work of American Regionalism: Stephanie Foote (University of Illinois). 3. Letting Go our Grand Obsessions: Notes toward a New Literary History of the American Frontiers: Annette Kolodny (University of Arizona). 4. Region and Race: National Identity and the Southern Past: Lori Robison (University of North Dakota). 5. Regionalism in the Era of the New Deal: Lauren Coats (Duke University) and Nihad M. Farooq (Duke University). 6. Realism and Regionalism: Donna Campbell (Gonzaga University). 7. Taking Feminism and Regionalism toward the Third Wave: Krista Comer (Rice University). 8. Regionalism and Ecology: David Mazel (Adams State College). 9. The City as Region: James Kyung–Jin Lee (University of Texas, Austin). 10. Indigenous People and Place: P. Jane Hafen (University of Nevada). 11. Borders, Bodies, and Regions: The United States and the Caribbean: Vera M. Kutzinski (Yale University). Part II: Mapping Regions:. 12. New England Literature and Regional Identity: Kent C. Ryden (University of Southern Maine). 13. The Great Plains: Diane D. Quantic (Wichita State University). 14. Forgotten Frontier: Literature of the Old Northwest: Bev Hogue (Marietta College). 15. The Old Southwest: Humor, Tall Tales, and the Grotesque: Rosemary D. Cox (Georgia Perimeter College). 16. The Plantation School: Dissenters and Countermyths: Sarah E. Gardner (Mercer University). 17. The Fugitive–Agrarians and Twentieth–Century Southern Canon: Farrell O’Gorman (Wake orest University). 18. Romanticising a Different Lost Cause: Regional Identities in Louisiana and the Bayou Country: Suzanne Disheroon–Green (Northwestern State University). 19. The Sagebrush School Revived: Lawrence I. Berkove (University of Michigan–Dearborn). 20. Re–envisioning the Big Sky: Regional Identity, Spatial Logics and the Literature of Montana: Susan Kollin (Montana State University). 21. Regions of California: Mountains and Deserts: Nicholas Witschi (Western Michigan University). 22. Regions of California: The Great Central Valley: Charles L. Crow (Bowling Green State University). 23. Los Angeles as a Literary Region: David Fine (California State University). 24. North and Northwest: Theorizing the Regional Literatures of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest: Susan Kollin (Montana State University). 25. Texas and the Great Southwest: Mark Busby (Southwest Texas State University). 26. Hawai’I: Brenda Kwon (Honolulu Community College). Part III: Some Regionalist Masters:. 27. Bret Garte and the Literary Construction of the American West: Gary Scharnhorst (University of New Mexico). 28. Mark Twain: A Man for all Regions: Lawrence I. Berkove (University of Michigan–Dearborn). 29. Willa Cather’s Glittering Regions: Robert Thacker (St Lawrence University). 30. “I Have seen America Emerging”: Mary Austin’s Regionalism: Betsy Klimasmith (University of Massachusetts–Boston). 31. “I have never recovered from the country”: The American West of Wallace Stegner: Richard H. Cracroft (Brigham Young University). Index.

Charles L. Crow is Emeritus Professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is co–editor of The Haunted Dusk: American Supernatural Fiction, 1820–1920 (1984) and The Occult in America: New Historical Perspectives (1983), and editor of American Gothic: An Anthology (Blackwell Publishing, 1999). He has been president of the Frank Norris Society, and a member of the executive council of the Western Literature Association.

“A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America is a significant achievement and could prove a powerful tool for those who wish to make considerations of space and place even more central to their disciplines. ” Jeremy Wells, Western American Literature ′In short, Charles L. Crow′s volume is a must, an essential purchase.′ Reference Reviews