Regional Novels in Iowa and Nebraska During the Last Half Century
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Regional novels in Iowa and Nebraska during the last half century Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Godsell, Mary Alma Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 02:47:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553560 REGIONAL NOVELS IN IOWA AND NEBRASKA DURING THE LAST Ha LF CENTURY alary A i m Gods ell A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate College University of Arisons 1941 A Approved* Director of Thesis Date / 9 v / *=P 4? TABLE OF COM TENTS Page Introduction. •••• ................ ...... 1 Chapter I, Bess Streeter Aldrich. ............... .. 13 Chapter II, Herbert Quick ........ ........ 28 Chapter III, Clyde Brion Davis• .......... 42 Chapter IV, Paul Engle. .............. 46 Chapter V, Dorothy Thomas ••«• ....... • 54 Chapter VI, Phil Stong............ ................ 58 Chapter VII, Paul Corey .............. 74 Chapter VIII, W i H a Sibert Gather ......... 85 Chapter IX, Ruth.Suckov........................... 95 Conclusions. ••••• ... .. .... .. lx.6 Bibliography ............. 133 1 4 3 9 0 3 SBESMSiB Literary regionallsn as a movenent received powerful impetus in tee South by a certain group called agrarians* It was in the nature of a revolt against tho cultural stamp the North placed upon the nation. Had tho South won tho Civil War doubtless the conditions would have traditions resented northern leadership. The exponents of the move ment claimed that tho regions should have their own way of life, cultural and economic, and that each region should be unified, and aware of its unity. ’ 1 A critic,of the movement, Paul Robert Death , pointed out that regionalism 1. Was based upon an inferiority complex. 2* Denied the great tradition— that is the beat that has been thought and known in the world. 3. Was almost exclusively occupied with local mediocrity. 4. Exploited rural folk at the expense of urban folk. 2 In reply to the criticism of regionalism Joseph E. Baker said 1 Paul Robert Beath, "Regionalism* Pro and Con, Four Fallacies •f Regionalism," Saturday Review of Literature. XV (November 28, 1936), 3, 4, 14, 16. 2 Joseph E. Baker, "Regionalism* Pro and Con, Four Arguments for Regionalism,n Saturday Roview of Literature. XV (November 28, 1936), 3s 4, 14* 2m that reglomlisn at its best would be very different from the folklore- and-nediocrity cult upon which the critic fixes his attention. Re gionalism would save the people of the various regions from the vices of & culture centralized in New York, As long so it was so centered there were not likely to bo any worthy interpreters of the regions. From the standpoint of hietoiy he argues that the country breaks up naturally into divisions marked by differences in climate and ways of life of the people living in them. Ho said it would be silly for any of the various unite. Hew England, for example, to abandon their own literary paste. From the standpoint of art ho argued that the best con ditions for the artist are those that enable him to study the world he portray*, "Ihe regionalist who ignores the universal is at fault, of courseI the life of the region is his medium of expression not his message, and ho should not mako his thinking a mere search for the curious, the old, and the picturesque,*^ In advancing his arguments concerning “regional rights* Hr, Baker pointed out that while the South was only one region, other regions have eager defenders such as Vachel Lindsay and Edgar Lee Masters, He was afraid that regionalism would grow bitter unless there could be developed a sort of human federation in literature. Lest;.;" in defending regionalism he argued that our great cities are not centers of culture at all and never can he) that the vital culture# of the world have always grown up in the smaller cities and countrysides, Mr, Baker 3 m a . , p. 14. 3. quoted Th o m s Jefferson, **1 view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man,” in order to elaborate upon the case. In the earlier days of our country when transportation and com munication were both slow and difficult there was great curiosity about all parts of America. After tho Civil War much of the literature con cerned itself with tho frontier. The growing taste demanded actuality and stimulated the extensive writing of regional fiction. The minute details of dialect, manners, and scenery came to be closely observed by tiie writers of the time— Harto, Cable, Jewett— all of whom wrote about the more picturesque localities. That American literature had its roots in the soil was voiced by James Gould Fletchers It is quite clear that the longer one ponders such ex amples tho more rooted in regionalism the present-day development of American letters appears; however cosmo politan on the surface, the primary soil and folk sources remain, at least as a pervasive influence, though not perhaps as a deliberate intention.^ Another writer showed this close correspondence between literature and environment* Regionalism in literary production consists in present ing tho human spirit in every aspect in correlation with its immediate environment. Elan, language, landeoape and the cultural riches of a particular, region, considered as the result of the reactions of tho individual heir of certain peculiarities of race and tradition; these should be the topics of interest for literary regionalism.* ^ John Gould Fletcher, "Regionalism and Folk Art,” Southwest Eeview, XIX (July, 1934), 429-434. ^ Adapted from "Communicatiems,” The Sociological Review. XXIV, 197-196, by Howard H. Odum and Harry Estill Moore, American Regionalism (New York: H e m y Holt and Company, 1936), p. 172. 4* These quotations reveal a serious attitude toward literature and a belief that it can find excellent expression through regional writings. But such excellence has not always been attained. The work of those writers who made much of setting for its own sake without any fundamental approach to character caused Walter Fuller faylor to suspect regionalism on the following grounds. He says. But local color itself...has proved too thin as a texture for the building of great fiction. "Atmosphere* is at beat an accessory to the great novel— the flavor not the substance....Regionalism has been at its best only when used as a background for some theme of deeply human and universal import; only when the atmosphere of a particular place and tine has been used merely as a setting for human experience whoso values approach the timeless.° But the Southern Agrarians regarded regionalism much more seriously than a matter of mere local color. They wished to develop a regional culture j a good literary program was an important approach to the whole problem. That there was no unanimity of opinion concerning regionalism was set forth by A. B. Botkin, who remarked. The regionaliots radically disagree as to the sources, . methods, and aims of regional literature, and each region tends to interpret regionalism in terms of its own historical shibboleths and local gods.6 7 Those who disapprove of regionalism objeet to it because they find in it merely a superficial treatment of regional qualities; those who are seriously concerned with regionalism as a cultural program naturally 6 Walter Fuller Taylor, A History of American Letters (Hew forks American Book Company, 1936), p. 261. 7 A. B. Botkin, "Regionalism: Cult or Culture." The English XXV (March, 1936), 181. 5s expect regional literature to play a part in their larger program of strengthening and defending the cultural individuality and independence . of their regions, There are others, however, who while taking regional fiction very seriously^ think that it must spring naturally from a writer* s knowledge of bis region rather than from a self-conscious effort to interpret it for the outer world. But Donald Davidson is-one.of those favoring a conscious regionalisn. He says, “A regional literature so- called, nay thus very well be, among other things, a self-conscious ox- ‘ VV> g > • pression of the life of a region.” At another time ho says, Begionalista are those who wish to see cultural dif ferences respected, not thwarted or obliterated. Ho matter from what field they draw their data...the regionalists agree that America, far from being perfectly homogeneous and standardized,is amazingly heterogeneous . and diverse.9 . Though ho says that regional literature, being self-conscious and intimate, may exploit the local aspects of the scene in order to recover a usable past, it does not narrow itself to mere picturesqueness and antiqearlanism except as n reaction to an overdose of metropolitan. natlonnlisa."*-0 He...have learned to tolerate a mixture of religions and races and not even the leveling power of an in dustrial system has been able to efface .those resulting diversions. ' f _ - **»*#«**»#*###**#**#*##+*****#*»##**#**#»#*»+**+*****+ For some time to cone our literature will not repre sent a uniform culture but will be conditioned by the _ regional cultures upon which it depends for its 89* 8 Donald Davidson, "Regionalism and nationalism in America* Literature,11 T&e A B W A a B ESXiew, V (April, 1935), pp. 48, 53, 54* 9 Xt22,» SMf M Donald Davidson, jnie Attack on the LeviathaR (Chapal Mill, The University of Horth Carolina Press, 1938), p. 232. H i m - , P. 233. 6, The function of the region is to endow the American artist with character and purpose.