Regionalism In Contemporary Literature

Regionalism in Contemporary Literature

Literature is known to have been comprised of written works and these works are made possible through the use of the author’s imaginative thinking. Together with time, literature also evolves. As such, the literary works from the 1800s down to the current have variations. For the purposes of this paper, the regional literature, its place in past works of fiction and contemporary works of today will be examined in light of the works of Campbell and Twain.

The Regional Literature and the Contemporary Works Today

Campbell (2015) defines regional literature of local color as a literary work which focuses on the characters and their dialect, customs, and culture in a particular region. The Oxford Companion

Through this, the present generation is able to appreciate the lives of their ancestors through the different literary works made available to the general public. Twain and Campbell are only two of the many authors that are able to capture the particular culture of people, their distinct dialects, and the nature and topography they have had where they lived in a specific time. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn focused on the journey of Huck who ran away together with his friend Him, to find their freedom. Any slaves would want liberty. In this particular work, the people in Missouri, especially the whites, were portrayed as selfish and stupid. It left Huck confused with society's unjust treatment especially to the blacks. Aside from that, racism, religion, and other social attitudes were also included in this particular work. On the other hand, Bonnie Jo Campbell's American Salvage depicts how people struggle to make sense in the twenty-first century. It shows how Michigan became a place of contradictions. Comparing the two works will enable people to appreciate the importance of regionalism in contemporary literature. As discussed above, the regional literature is a mixture of romanticism and realism because authors deviate from the ordinary lives of people and focus on the latter's strange custom. Despite that, it is important to note how the local color is able to preserve the historical experience of people which shaped their lives

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