Forum / Do you identify with a region? Or is regionalism finally, properly buried?

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Jun 11, 12:39pm

  Just curious if anyone identifies their work, their ethos with a geographical region ...

  I know that there are academic categorizations, even marketing 'brands' that utilize geography, designating this writer as a 'Southern' and that one as a 'voice from the Southwest' ... but what about the writers, in their own self image?

  Subjectively, with the understanding and supposition that categorization is not an evil thing, do you recognize yourself as ... and/or brand yourself with a regional stamp? Do you tailor your voice to fit that stamp?

  Beginning with the likes of Marshall McCluhan, many people predicted the eventual disappearance of regional tics and bias, accents and the like by way of the more universal media that technology has enabled, creating a more homogenized mix in the nation at large, ultimately expanding into the world, a global perspective ...

  Are, or rather were they accurate? Surely we can see the beginnings of 'global' perspectives, but are the old regionalisms still a viable force in literature?

  Faulkner, for instance, was and always will be a "Southern" writer, since his body of work is complete. Even if the perceptions of modern and future academics and readers should change, his themes and language, distinct and different as they are, accented as they are, will likely continue to be defined as "Southern."

  Is that sort of specialization going away? Is the day closer when all American writers will be classified "American?"

  It begins with you, since you are the writers. What do you call yourself? Do you identify with a region? What region is it?

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Jun 11, 12:47pm

  Marshall McLuhan ... not McCluhan.

  I read his book "Medium is the Massage," way back when, but all I remember are the "Alice in Wonderland" references and some very strange hangovers, laced with herb ... circa 1968, a very strange year.

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Jun 11, 12:54pm

  I suppose that my question comes from an American perspective, but I'm not wrapping myself in the flag, eh? Even Canadians have regions ... i.e. prairie literature ... and Europeans invented the concept.

  Nonetheless, the question applies abroad as well as here.

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  Susan Tepper

  Jun 11, 02:53pm

  I enjoy the regional anthologies, the idea of a specific area packed into one geographic ethos. But as for my own writing, I tend to be all over the globe with setting and characters. But I like it both ways.

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  Greg Davis

  Jun 11, 04:09pm

  Hi James,
  I've been living in Charleston, South Carolina for 13 years but I'm about to move back to Columbus, Ohio. As a person, I would definitely define myself as a midwesterner and that hasn't changed although I went to school in Philadelphia and lived in Vermont before heading back to the Buckeye state. In subtle ways I think that regional differences still do exist, though I'm sure they've been muted a lot since all of us partake in a sort of homogenizing national culture.
  I do think that Southern literature is still distinctive and that there's a West Coast feel to some literature as well. The most interesting book I've read on the emergence of different cultures in the US is a history called "Albion's Seed" that describes that way that four different regional cultures from England took root in American soil following separate waves of migration. Though it took place hundreds of years ago, the author shows how persistent regional cultures have been throughout American history.

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  Sam Rasnake

  Jun 11, 04:48pm

  I absolutely do, James, on an emotional / internal level.

  It doesn't show in my work at all, really - though I wish it did. I'd love for my writing to connect directly with Appalachia. If I were designing myself as a writer - or could even begin to do that - that's what I would do.

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  Roberta

  Jun 12, 12:27am

  no, not really. something that reoccurs for me again and again when i write is a nature motif, and the woods popping up. that feels much more relevant to me - i.e. at heart and by instinct i'm pagan - and for me that comes from a more core place than my sense of myself as a brit. the latter's got a passing relevance when i write, but it's not intrinsic. elemental feelings of belonging tend to go deeper for me than cultural ones, so that feels relevant to anything i create.

  all that said, i like the idea of cities having voices, narratives, etc. of their own. so sometimes london comes up when i write. (i'm an ex-londoner.)

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