Regionalism
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focuses on the special characteristics of a certain geographical area and its people
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writers strive to capture the speech, dress, common beliefs, and social interactions of a
given locale
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Mark Twain and Bret Hart, most powerful, captured the life, manners, and speech of
locales
Interest in regionalism grew during the late 1800s
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In the years after the Civil War, the United States expanded rapidly.
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greater numbers of immigrants entering
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writers sought to record, celebrate, and mythologize diversity of landscape and people
Regionalist writers use careful detail to re-create
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the physical features of landscapes and towns
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the often colorful characters who inhabit them
In Life on the Mississippi, for example, Mark Twain
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records the speech patterns and mannerisms of the steamboat pilot Mr. Bixby
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conveys the beauty of the Mississippi River
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illuminates the challenges of learning to pilot a steamboat
Local Color - writers use writing to “paint” local scenes. Many works in this style:
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focus on interesting, eccentric characters
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include whimsical humor
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tend toward the romantic or sentimental
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wanted to let readers “hear” its authentic speech patterns.
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used the vernacular, language spoken by the people in a particular locality
created vernacular speech by using idiomatic expressions and dialect forms
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He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal’klated to edercate him;
and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that
frog to jump. (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Twain)
Summary:
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Desire to record, celebrate, and mythologize the vast diversity of America’s different
geographical regions
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Strict attention to recording accurately the speech, mannerisms, behavior, and beliefs of
people in specific locales
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Local color writing that “paints” the local scenes and tends toward the humorous or the
sentimental