LITERARY RESOURCES FOR mSTORICAL GEOGRAPHY:
A FLORIDA EXAMPLE
Ary J. I.amme III
University of Florida
Geographers are witnessing a movement in research which emphasizes the
humane element of our concerns. Humanistic geography, according to Tuan,
"achieves an understanding of the human world by studying people's relations
with nature, their geographical behavior as well as their feelings and ideas
in regard to space and place."l Gould notes that, "At the present time the
pendulum is swinging towards a behavioral geography characterized very strongly
by a concern for the micro-spatial behavior of ths individuaL, his cognitive
mechanism and psyche.,,2
A humanistic geography, distinct from one based on logical positivism,
seeks to develop "a sense of place," something more in the location concept
than merely the scientifically ~easurable. The artistic may be less objective,
less quantifiable; but such qualities do not make it any less important. Wright
recognized a geography cOlilposed of scientifically verifiable data, surrounded
by a vast periphery of information that had to be dealt with subjectively.'
The geographer, he felt, could profitably use imagination and intuition in
efforts to gain an understanding of place and circumstance. Thus, we respond
to the "siren's song," and share with others the humanity which is within ourselves. In this context, what Berry has to say about "metageogrnphy" is
apposi teo
What, then is proposed is a view of the world from the vantage of process
metagcography. By metageography is Illeant that part of geographic speculation dealing with the principles lying behind perceptions of reality,
and transcer.ding them, including such concepts as essence, cause, and
identity .•
~o one would suppose that the humanistic movement is universal among
geographers. Yet for those who might move in such a direction, a consideration
of some of the elements of a humanistic component to the discipline is in order.
This paper considers the i~plications of this trend for historical geographers,
with an illustration from Florida literature.
Humanistic Historical Geograp~
One of the basic problems facing a humanistic historical geography is
the purposeful crossing of that frontier zone which divides scientific fro~
artist:ie investigations. ~'hile lIIUch can be learned fro,", scientific studies,
artistic examinations of man delve into certain aspects of the human experience
with unmatched discernment. Where are historical geographers to look for the
humane component? Logically our attention might be directed toward the fertile
fieldS traditionally covered by the humanities. "Essence, cause and identity"
as well as a host of other concerns dealing with the condition of mankind have
been the foci of great art. All for~~ of art could be useful. but geographers
are likely to find literary works a good place to start. Of course, geographers
have not igm>red the work of writers. yet the use of these resources has hardly
been systematized.
British geographers began to make use of literary resources in the 1930s.
Authors of varying stature were investigated to ascertain how much supplementary knowledge their works could add to what was known about particular periods.
Studies appeared investigating the quality of Defoe's geographical references. s
and reconstructi,,1/. the geography of sixteenth century England through the
writings of John Leland and William Camden.· Especially notable was Darby's
analysis of the Dorset landscape through the novels of Tholll3s Hardy.' In intervening years rather infrequent articles have appeared in what we might term this
literary reconstruction tradition, which directs literary resource use in geography toward inductive, regional results.
u
7'M R.UllXI11Ce of Ut:eratW'-.
It historical geographers are to .ake more e~tensive use of artistic resources, they will want to be assured that such ~aterials are relevant to geographic questions. It i$ correctly assu-cd that literature is related to the
society that produces it,a but there hMve been a range of views on the nature
of the relationship between literature and society.' At one end is the view
that literature is si-ply reflective. while at the other that it is the cause
rather than effect. Between is the notion that literature airrors society
but aay also have soae inlluenee on its workings. Most literary scholars see.
to accept this .cderate interpretation.
Sociologists of literature, aore than other social scientists, have
ex. .ined the relationship between literature and society. OIIe of th_. Leo
Lowenthal. tells uS what we can expect to find in literature.
The specific treat.ent which a creative writer eives to nature or to love.
to ,estures and ~ . to gregariousness or solitude, is a pri.ary source
for the study of the penetration of the aost inti.. te spheres of personal
life by ,ocial force, . . . . In fact. the most generalized concepts
about h..an nature found in literature fTOve on close inspection to be
related to social and political chapge . •
Reaarding sources on seventeenth century French society, Lowenth"l says, "certainly other sources describe the occupations and preoccupations of the bourgeois at the time of ~oliere; but only Moliere reveals what it was like to live
this experience." I I
Patt:el"'ning and Content A'wl.lfeia
A quality of literature which has received ettention frOll literary
schOlars in recent years and which lilly be useful for acoiraphers 15 patterning.
This has to do with the regular use or absence of certain words or images. The
systeRatlc portrayal or exclusion of certain social groups fro. the literature
of a period or artistic tradition aay be significant. Social scientists .ay
be able to detect relationships between patterns in literature and patterns
of living. A noted literary scholar. Rayaond williUlS has observed:
In the last decades of the eighteenth centuT)·, and In the first half of
the nineteepth century, a nueber of words. which are now of capital iaportance, c"e for the first tiae into cOlaOn English use. or where they had
already been generally used in the language, acquired new and iaportant
_aning. There is in tact a general pattern of change in these words.
and this can be used as a special kind of aep by which it is possible to
look again at those wider changes in life and thou~t to which the changes
in language refer. 12
Atte.pts have been aade to analyze language patternin, throu¥h quantitative techniques. usine a . .thod known as content analysis. Geographers have
used content analysis with docuaentary resources froa past periods such as
journals and newspapers; I' however. artistic literature has not cOle In for
.uch scrutiny. Whether analyzed quantitatively or subjectively. patterning in
literature is an area of potential interest to social scientists.
Literature at its best can suggest much to the historical geographer
beyond lere setting. By Its flows, the wealth of e~ple frOl one tiae and
the dearth frOlll another; its patterning of language. i ..ge and subject; its
unparalleled penetration of the hu.an condition; literature suggests to us
so~ethin& of the social conditions of the age in which it was produced.
Utility of Utel'atu:re
One of the most appealing aspects of literary utilization in geography
ia its historic value, where it may be the only source for certain types of
data. For instance. perceptual research often includes interviews and surveys.
These .ethods cannot be U5ed in lOst historical studies. However, literature
fro. the past often e~amines the individual in detail, and can be used with
care in the e~aaination of perceptual questions.
"
Of several ~u~arie$ of historical geographic research which have ap_
peared in the past few years, Prince'sl- classification of the field seems best
at providing a suitable niche for literary resource utilitation. In his view,
research in historical geography falls into either real, iMagined, or abstract
conceptualitations of the past. The first and last of these refer to the re~
construction of past geographies and attempts to model the past. nle iaagined
approach seeks an understanding of past perceptions, motives, attitudes, and
behavior. Literature should be particularly useful in this category.
~jOri6 Kin~ Rawling8' The Yearling
TWo recent examples of research aim at developing literary resources for
geography. Salter and Lloyd investigate the portrayal of landscape in literature throu~h the wOrks of a nu.ber of authors. '5 ~ single author, WilliaM
FaUlkner, is the focus of ~iken's study which atte~pt! to ~atch literary usage
with geographical reality in Lafayette County, mssissippi.'6
For those with Florida interests, the name of Harjorie Kinnan Rawlings
i~ediately cOmes to mind.
What follo~s is a report on preli~inary research
into her writing as a resource for the historical geographer.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' literary production was extremely varied. She
wrote newspaper articles, short stories, poems, novels, and even a cookbook.
She is best known for her classic, The Year~ing, for which she received the
Pulitter Prite in 1939.'1 Gordon Bigelow wrote the major criticism of Rawlings'
work.'· Fe focuses on her life at Cross Creek, in North Central Florida, her
relations with the local population, and the evidence of this interaction in
her writing. lie contends that "place" was II vital ct'ncept to her. A geo·
grapher's investigation "f a "sense of place" in her workS is, therefore, in
line with literary criticis~.
In previous work I have presented four overlapping conce~ts appropriate
for the historical geographer who would use literary resources. ' These four
are landscape, hu~an ecology, strategy, and regionalis~. The Yearling can
contribute to OUr understanding of Florida in ellch of these areas.
Landscape
Many novels give us detailed accounts of physical and cultural landscapes.
Yearling is set in the pine scrub forest of ~orth Central Florida. Popu4
lation density is low. The reader acquires II strong impression of the enormity
of the fOrest and the isolation of individual faMilies. The novel contains long
and accurate descriptions of pine islands (high places, such as where the Baxters, the main fa~ily in the story, live); the St. Johns River: a ~~all settlement on that river; wildlife: sinkholes; and many other naturalist observations.
Clearly Marjorie Kinnan RaWlings knew the land.
~
HI#IrOI Ccology
Numerous thelles may be investigated within the concept of hUMan ecology.
The traditional geographic concept of ~n-Iand can be expanded to inClude the
cultural environment. Social geographic themes of interaction between groups
in society are often found in novels. Perceptual questions would be included
in this concept.
The Baxters live a solitary life. Jody Baxter and his father try to Make
a living through fa~ing and hunting. This struggle is not an easy one, and
Bigelow points out that Rawlings herself had anything but an easy time making
a liVing off her land at Cross Creek. The Baxters' life is nOt one of total
isolation, however. They travel to a small settlement on the St. Johns and
interact with a wider range of people. The experience expands their world view
and demonstrates the existence of an alternate mode of living.
The Baxters' neighbors are the Forresters. The interaction between
these families highlights a perceived social hierarchy in the scrub. While the
Baxters to themselves se~ to personify characteristics of hard work within a
strong moral code, the Forresters have slipped so~ewhat from the ideal. The
Forresters are conscious of this perception and sensitive to it. There are ties
13
•
of shared ex.pcTicnco between the Bn:ters and Forrestel"s. Hwever, indivj,lual
I,c..be:rs of both flImilies cOlllplicate the relationship. Thus, Rewlil'gs presented
uS with a cowplex social geographic system, a system which is the operational
environment of the inhabitants of the scrub.
The central relationship in the novel is between Jody Baxter and his
fawn. There are parallel ",aturation processes as the fawn beca.'es II. yearling
and .5 Jo<!y becomes a young !:lan. Their grQWth is inti.... tol)' connected with
the environment. The fawn finds it mOre an.l lItOre difficult to live in close
proximity with humans, and ultimately perishes.
The boy, similarly, has dif-
ficulty coming to grips with his surroundings. 1:1emcnts of his environmental
trial include; an isolation not of his own choosing; a sen~itive nature rebelling at harsh realities of the forest; responsihilities too II;reat for one so
young; and the lure of the outside world.
Strat6yy
J have uscd this category to include IIIOtivation, plan, and action.
Economic g~ography themes involve <':eelsions On how to II\lIke a living. cO_lJlication and transportation connections. and the difficult economic realities of
life. Geographers will he most interesteG in the spatial ramifications of
these thellles.
The Baxters d" not have to ll.ve in the forest. and yet the father has
made a conscious decision to do so. The following lines gives us s~e feeling
for h:l 5 itleas.
But in the towns and vill",ge5, in fuming sections where neighbors ..cre
not too far apart. men's minds and actions and property overlapred. There
were illtnu>ions on the individual sl>idt .
1l'e peace of the vast
aloof scrub had drawn hilll with the beneficence of its silence
"'aking a living callie harder there, distllnCt'S were troublesomc in the
buying of sUllplies and the lIarl.:eting of crops. But the clearing was
peculiarly his own. lO
The Baxters' t,lan is a combination of elllOtional prefeTl'mce and realistic <leteT1Il1nat.iOl'. As with Illuch frontier Uteratllre. tl>e ..aintenance of thcir imleper.dence is a central concern. The particular ~etho<l of making a living is se~on­
dary to the rugged natures necessary to nt.tellpt it. ",ll of thi~ is done "'ithin
spatial fra",eworks; one ~,aterilll. that they are well aware (If. and the ot.her
lUCtaphysical. perhaps only rlil<lly cOIDprehended. They know that. the)' have a
h\lJlured acre T.raC"·t in the forest fro- which to scratch a living. TIds is a
harsh lI1aterial reality. And then there is the mental concept of range of fTee·
dOIll. hinted at in the passagc above. Just because it is less clearly defined
in IIlsterial terlls does ncot ,.al..e it ar.y less operative in their lives.
Reyicmal.iem
Most novels attelllpt to e5tablis~ a setting. In rany rases this will be
lllere bad..Kroun<l witl; little thought r.iven to accurac}' or locational flavor.
In the case of T1~ YoorZing. RaWlings present~l a complex picture of an area
and the people who inhabit it.
n,e forest, because of the difficulties that it presents. excludes
diverse ell'.lIIents of I<ociety. Within this setting is found a group of people
characterized by s,any of the traits discussed in the human ecology section.
"Cracker" Florida is inhabit.e<l by poor. rural. white. and relatively uneducated
people. We ~ec theID during the pioneer perio<l in North C.entral Florida. This
group is set apart physically, and perceives of itself as different. Perceptions of outsiders and how they live, even in the slllall settlelllent on the St.
Johns. "ecollle fiXed in the minds of the piOneers.
In T1uI Yearling we read of the physical and cultural characteristics of
an era. ~Iuch of this inforJll;ltion we could get fro~ geography and history texts,
but the co~ination of t.hese settings. inrluding the penetrating examination
of indivi<lual lives gives us a new perspective. Rawlings herself was not native
to the region. but she liv~1 among its people and her portrayal of that society
seeills vali<l.
Cona'LuBum
There is a humanistic movement underway in geography. and historical 8eographer5 can find ways to respond to it. Artistic literature would seeM to be
a valuable source in this regard. It is clear that litflrature is intiDately
related to period and place. Furthermore, literature can deal with perceptual
questions for geographical studies of the past. Admittedly. this is a very
subjective undertaking. There Day be differing interpretations of a literary
source. However. a preliminary look at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel The
Year'Ling suggests that there is much of value for the historical geographer
in her books.
• • •
1. Yi-Fu Tuan. "Hu&anistic Geography." Annals. Asaociation of AmeI'icran Gilo66 (1976):266.
graph~u'B
2. P. R. Gould. ''The Open Geographic CulTicuh1Dl" in Di1'Bctions in Geofll'ClPh!J,
ed. Richard J. Chorley (London: Methuen and Co .• Ltd., 1973). p. 262. italics
mine. T. ~agerstrand also calls fOr a renewed concern with the individual
Illan: '''The Ool\3in of HUlI\8.n Geography." Dil'ectiona in Geography, p. 75.
3. J. K. Wright, HI#fI(D1 Natwoe in Geography (CaJIlbridge: Harvard University Press,
1966). pp. 68-88.
4. 8. J. L. Berry. "A ParadigDI for Morlern Geography," Directions in GCOfJT'apl,y,
p. 9.
5. J. N. L. 8aker. ''The Geography of Daniel nefoe." Scottitll. Geographilla'L Maga47 (1931):257-69.
~ine
6. E. G. R. Taylor. "Leland's England," and "Camden's England," in An Hiatorical
Geography of t:1lgl.and Befo"f'e A.D. 1800. ed. H. C. Darby (Caillbridge: Call1brid,,,,
University Press. 1936). pp. 330-286.
7. H. C. Darby. ''The Geography of Thomas Hardy's Wessex." Geographical PevieIJ
38 (1948) :426-43.
8. J. Thorpe, ed., Relations of Utemry StudlJ: Essaya on InterdieciplinarlJ
Contributions (New York: Motiern Language Association of AIrIerica, 1967).
9. M. Albrecht. ''TIle Relationship of Literature and Society." The Americat,
JOIO'l'la'L of Sociology 59 (1954) :425-36.
10. L. Lowenthal. Li:t4mt:u.N and the Image of Man: Sociological Studies of tile
Drama and Novel. 1600-1800 (Boston: The Beacon Pres~. 1957), Introduction.
EU~ean
11. Ibid.
12. 11:. Williams. Q<lture and Societ:y 178(1-1950 (London: Ch.tto and l\"indus. 1958).
p. xiii.
13. A. J. W. Catchpole, D. W. Moodie. and B. Kay. "Content Analysis: A Method
for the Identification of Dates of First Free~ing and Final Breaking from Descript.ive ACCOunts." Profes8ionaL Geographsr 22 (1970):252-57.
14. H. Prince. "Real, JIIIOlgined and Abstract Worlds of the Past," in Progre1!J~ in
Geography: In:t4r>naticna'L Revier,} of Cta-rent Reaearch, Vol. 3, ed. C. Board, R.
Chorley. P. Haggert. and D. Stoddart (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1971), p. 24.
"
IS. C. Salter and W. Lloyd, LandScape in Lite~turB, Resource Paper for Colleae
Geoaraphy no. 76-3 (Washinaton: Association of American Geographers, 1977).
16. C. Aiken, "Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County: Geographical Fact into Fiction,"
Geographical Revieu 67 (1977):1-21.
17. M. Rawlings, The Yearling (New York: Scribner, 1938).
18. G. Bigelow. Frontier &ien (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966).
19. A. l.amme, "The Use of Novels in Geography Classrooms." J()U:r'I1Ql of Geographll
76 (1977):66-68.
20. Rawlings. The Yearling, p. 18.
"