WHAT I S REGI ONALI SM OR LOCAL COLOR?

WHAT DOES I S ADD TO READI NG A STORY?

WHAT WAS THE MODERNI ST MOVEMENT?
Modernism in American
Literature
Regionalism /Local Color 101
Regionalism is a subcategory of the American
Literary Movement known as Modernism
1. Local color stories are considered to focus on
character, dialect, geography, customs and culture
that relate to a specific area or region.
Modernism 101
Literary Modernism 1915-1945
Response to sense of total breakdown
a. Reaction to World War I
b. The Great Depression

Characteristics of Modernism

Alienation from society; loneliness
Procrastination; inability to act
Flashbacks
Fear of death
Inability to feel or express love
World as a Wasteland
Man creating his own myths within his mind to fall
back upon

Important and Emerging Themes
Violence and alienation
Historical discontinuity
Decadence and decay
Loss and despair
Rejection of history
Race relations
Unavoidable change
Sense of place; local color

Important American Authors
Faulkner
Hemingway
Steinbeck
Fitzgerald