Regionalism

"Regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region" (Campbell). It could also be called local color (Campbell). This means that writings in this literature period pertains to stories that are written about a certain area. For example, if I wrote a true story about Pleasant Plains it would be regionalism. To make it even more rationalistic, I would use real characters of the town. I could use the mayor, the principal of the school, the teachers, the students, the workers, and even the people who live in the town. I could use them to portray important events that have happened in our town. The book would also talk about the land scape of Pleasant Plains. It would talk about the corn fields and the random little hills around the area. I would be in the dialect of normal people. People native to Pleasant Plains do not usually talk in a way that makes them sound like red necks. That is something I like about them. That would be an example of a regionalism story in literature.
"Many critics, including Amy Kaplan ("Nation, Region, and Empire" in the Columbia Literary History of the United States) and Richard Brodhead (Cultures of Letters), have argued that this literary movement contributed to the reunification of the country after the Civil War and to the building of national identity toward the end of the nineteenth century" (Campbell). I think this is true. They have a good point because the regionalism period was between 1865 to 1895 (Campbell). That was right at the end of the Civil War which ended in 1865. The country was trying to get back together and form a strong nation again. Western expansion started to become a big part. Railroads were booming everywhere. Regionalism created a romantic view of the west and made people want to travel there. Regionalism is a type of literature that explains how the characteristics of a certain region go together.

Campbell, Donna M. "Regionalism and Local Color Fiction." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. .