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A Reader's Guide to New England: The Platypus Reads Part LXIV

I was explaining regionalism to my students this morning and trying to get them to understand that authors from various regions of the country have a distinct "flavor" even though they're all Americans.  In an attempt to sell them on the artistic value of regionalism, I borrowed a little bit from Chesterton and told them that Shelton Connecticut is my Pimlaco.  It doesn't matter if anyone's ever heard of it, loving Shelton gives a rootedness to all I do.  I then proceeded to list for them a dew New England authors and attempted to sketch out what exactly the New England "flavor" is.

My List:

Herman Melville
Nathanael Hawthorne
Edgar Allan Poe
H.P. Lovecraft
John Knowles (as an outside-insider)

What do I notice as the hallmarks of New England literature?

First, there's a heavy emphasis on the spiritual side of life.  With the exception of "outsider" Knowles' "A Separate Peace," each author's work is unapologetically suffused with the supernatural.  Compare this with anything written by California's Steinbeck, and you'll see what I mean about a regional "flavor."  On the other hand, reading stories from Flannery O'Conner's "Christ-haunted South" one can discern a subtle difference between O'Conner's aristocratic Catholicism and the other author's blend of Puritanism, the occult, and Unitarianism.

Second, there's a certain, and almost indescribable, steel in New England writing.  Even in a Unitarian-Universalist, like Melville there's always just a tad of something that suggests the morning light on drawn swords and stern features of Oliver Cromwell.  Beneath the calm exterior, there is always lurking a bit of the cosmic patriot willing to smash every high and mighty thing that sets itself up against the true Good.

Third, there's a certain attitude towards nature, that's hard to describe.  It isn't the pantheism of a Wordsworth or a Coleridge, nor the Darwinian brutality of a Steinbeck.  Instead it's a sense that nature is an icon, or a metaphor for something more real that lies behind it.

These are just my thoughts, and I'm trying to grasp at something that is hard to pin down.  Nonetheless, I think it's a valuable endeavor.  What region are you from?  Can you spot something that smacks of it when you see it?

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Comments

So many thoughts... said…
Interesting. I have noticed with screenplays. Movies that are set in a certain locale for example tend to have a certain feel, and a worldview/value system.
2:54 PM
James said…
Makes sense. Can you give a couple examples?
5:03 PM
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