The Concept of the Place-Defining Novel in American Popular Culture∗

In the period between 1800 and 1950, 42 authors wrote American regional novels and poetry popular enough to be tentatively labeled place defining. These books provide concise statements of perceived regional values. As a group they suggest that the West has been dominated by the single, enduring image of youthful self-reliance; the Northeast by a set of small-scale characterizations; and the Midwest and South by more complex depictions of egalitarian pastoralism and cavalier society, respectively, each modified and challenged over time.