Regionalism in Canadian Literature
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The term regionalism is an inevitable idea when it comes to Canadian literature and the never ending search for Canadian identity. The definition of regionalism in literature is said to be “fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region” (Campbell). Northrop Frye, a respected Canadian literary critic, discusses the development of regionalism in Canadian literature and stresses “the importance of regions to the creative imagination, arguing that an imagination conditioned by prairie stretching to the horizon would develop differently from one shaped by the huge mountains and trees of British Columbia or by the churning sea around Newfoundland” (Fiamengo). is that experiencing the variety of environments that exist in Canada would cause Canadian authors of different regions to develop and emphasize the specific aspects associated with their particular region. In their writing, regionalism speaks to the characters of the novel and manipulates their identity to match the landscape and history of the region. This displays a true connection with the region and there is “no doubt that regionalism stems from a deep personal involvement with a particular place, a lived experience that is not available to the causal observer” (Jordan, 9). In the novels As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross and The Diviners by Margaret Laurence aspects of regionalism are very prominent. The central characters in each novel develop identities which reflect the regions in which they live. Ross’ characters, Mr. and Mrs. Bentley, develop the hollow existence and aversive attitudes that are common in small prairie towns. Laurence’s characters, Morag and Pique Gunn, develop an identity that reflects the history of the land and the happenings associated with the imagined town of Manawaka. The forms of regionalism in these two novels foster the idea that “metaphor relates man to the world in
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The term regionalism is an inevitable idea when it comes to Canadian literature and the never ending search for Canadian identity. The definition of regionalism in literature is said to be “fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region” (Campbell). Northrop Frye, a respected Canadian literary critic, discusses the development of regionalism in Canadian literature and stresses “the importance of regions to the creative imagination, arguing that an imagination conditioned by prairie stretching to the horizon would develop differently from one shaped by the huge mountains and trees of British Columbia or by the churning sea around Newfoundland” (Fiamengo). is that experiencing the variety of environments that exist in Canada would cause Canadian authors of different regions to develop and emphasize the specific aspects associated with their particular region. In their writing, regionalism speaks to the characters of the novel and manipulates their identity to match the landscape and history of the region. This displays a true connection with the region and there is “no doubt that regionalism stems from a deep personal involvement with a particular place, a lived experience that is not available to the causal observer” (Jordan, 9). In the novels As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross and The Diviners by Margaret Laurence aspects of regionalism are very prominent. The central characters in each novel develop identities which reflect the regions in which they live. Ross’ characters, Mr. and Mrs. Bentley, develop the hollow existence and aversive attitudes that are common in small prairie towns. Laurence’s characters, Morag and Pique Gunn, develop an identity that reflects the history of the land and the happenings associated with the imagined town of Manawaka. The forms of regionalism in these two novels foster the idea that “metaphor relates man to the world in
Cited: damson, Arthur. "Identity Through Metaphor: An Approach to the Question of Regionalism in Canadian Literature" Studies in Canadian Literature. 5.1 (1980). 11 Feb. 2010. Campbell, Donna M. "Regionalism and Local Color Fiction, 1865-1895." Literary Movements. 22 May 2007. 7 Feb. 2010. .Daniells, Roy. “Introduction.” As for Me and My House. Ed. Malcolm Ross. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1957. v-x.Davey, Frank. “The Conflicting Signs of As for Me and My House.” From the Heart of the Heartland: The Fiction of Sinclair Ross. Ed. John Moss. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 1992. 25-37.Jordan, David M. “Introduction.” New World Regionalism: Literature in the Americas. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press Incorporated, 1994. 3-10. Jordan, David M. “The Canadian Prairie: Sinclair Ross’s As for Me and My House.” New World Regionalism: Literature in the Americas. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press Incorporated, 1994. 93-97. Kreisel, Henry. “The Prairie: A State of Mind.” Contexts of Canadian Criticism. Ed. Eli Mandel. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1971. 254-266.Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 2007.Morley, Patricia. Margaret Laurence. Boston : Twayne Publishers, 1981.Ricou, Laurence. “The Prairie Internalized: The Fiction of Sinclair Ross.” Vertical Man/Horizontal World. British Columbia: University of British Columbia Press, 1974. 81-94. Ross, Sinclair. As for Me and My House. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 2008.Thomas, Clara. The Manawaka World of Margaret Laurence. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1975. Tsutsumi, Toshiko. “Regionalism, Nationalism and Internationalism in Margaret Laurence.” Nationalism vs. Internationalism. Ed. Wolfgang Zach. Tubingen: Stauffenburg, 1996. 307-312.Fiamengo, Janice. "Regionalism and urbanism." The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature. Ed. Eva-Marie Kroller. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Cambridge Collections Online. 16 Feb. 2010.