Book Review: A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America

Authors

Kathleen A. Boardman, University of Nevada

Date of this Version

2004

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 24:4 (Fall 2004). Copyright © 2005 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Abstract

What difference would it make if literary regionalism were taken seriously? We would have an ambitious, readable collection of essays, written by well-known scholars, that would critique as well as defend regional literary movements, re-examine the social implications of local color and Depression-era regionalism, trace the shifting borders of regionalism's connections with nationalism, study regional issues not only in narratives of village and countryside but also in Gidget novels and L.A. detective stories, and use current theories to recontextualize past work and predict the future. Here is that collection.