Regionalism and the Humanities

by Mahoney, Timothy R.; Katz, Wendy Jean

• ISBN13: 9780803276345
• ISBN10: 0803276346
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Although the framework of regionalist studies may seem to be crumbling under the weight of increasing globalization, this collection of seventeen essays makes clear that cultivating regionalism lies at the centre of the humanist endeavour. With interdisciplinary contributions from poets and fiction writers, literary historians, musicologists, and historians of architecture, agriculture, and women, this volume implements some of the most innovative and intriguing approaches to the history and value of regionalism as a category for investigation in the humanities. In the volume's inaugural essay, Annie Proulx discusses landscapes in American fiction, comments on how she constructs characters, and interprets current literary trends. Edward Watts offers a theory of region that argues for comparisons of the United States to other former colonies of Great Britain, including New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Whether considering a writer's connection to region or the idea of place in exploring what is meant by regionalism, these essays uncover an enduring and evolving concept. Although the approaches and disciplines vary, all are framed within the fundamental premise of the humanities: the search to understand what it means to be human.

Author Biography

Timothy R. Mahoney is a professor of history at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and project administrator of the Plains Humanities Alliance. He is the author of Provincial Lives: Middle-Class Experience in the Antebellum Middle West and River Towns in the Great West: The Structure of Provincial Urbanization in the American Midwest, 1820–1870.

 

Wendy J. Katz is an associate professor of art history at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of Regionalism and Reform: Art and Class Formation in Antebellum Cincinnati.

 

Contributors include Ginette Aley, Stephen C. Behrendt, Mark Busby, Cheryll Glotfelty, Barbara Handy-Marchello, Kurt E. Kinbacher, Patrick Lee Lucas, Larry W. Moore, Annie Proulx, Guy Reynolds, Mark A. Robison, Michael Saffle, William Slaymaker, Maggie Valentine, Edward Watts, and Nicolas S. Witschi.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Introduction: Regionalism and the Humanities: Decline or Revival?	p. ix
Sensing Place: The Authority of Nature
Dangerous Ground: Landscape in American Fiction	p. 6
The Ec(h)ological Conscience: Reflections on the Nature of Human Presence in Great Plains Environmental Writing	p. 26
"I Don't Know, but I Ain't Lost": Defining the Southwest	p. 43
A Border Runs through It: Looking at Regionalism through Architecture in the Southwest	p. 56
Constructing Place: The Possibility of Local Representation
Willa Cather's Case: Region and Reputation	p. 79
Dwelling within the Place Worth Seeking: The Midwest, Regional Identity, and Internal Histories	p. 95
Gendered Boosterism: The "Doctor's Wife" Writes from the New Northwest	p. 110
"With Powder Smoke and Profanity": Genre Conventions, Regional Identity, and the Palisade Gunfight Hoax	p. 127
Place Is a Relationship: Regionalism, Nationalism, and Transnationalism
Regionalism and the Realities of Naming	p. 150
The Midwest as a Colony: Transnational Regionalism	p. 166
Transcending the Urban-Rural Divide: Willa Cather's Thea Kronborg Goes to Chicago	p. 190
Preaching the Gospel of Higher Vaudeville: Vachel Lindsay's Poetic Journey from Springfield, Illinois, across America, and Back	p. 211
Place is Political: Creating Regional Cultures
State Pieces in the U.S. Regions Puzzle: Nevada and the Problem of Fit	p. 237
Imagining Place: Nebraska Territory, 1854-1867	p. 251
Architecture Crosses Region: Building in the Grecian Style	p. 274
Societies and Soirees: Musical Life and Regional Character in the South Atlantic	p. 292
List of Contributors	p. 321
Index	p. 325
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