Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast
This paper argues for “regionality” as a new term to address the intersection of geographical regions and writing from those regions. The limited applicability of traditionally conceived regionalism to the poetry of the Canadian West Coast demonstrates the need for this new term. The suffix “-ity” s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10428 |
| _version_ | 1797310396879601664 |
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| author | Michelle Hartley |
| author_facet | Michelle Hartley |
| author_sort | Michelle Hartley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper argues for “regionality” as a new term to address the intersection of geographical regions and writing from those regions. The limited applicability of traditionally conceived regionalism to the poetry of the Canadian West Coast demonstrates the need for this new term. The suffix “-ity” stands not for a faith in region or region as totality, but “an instance” or “a degree of” region. These “instances” accrue a processual and multiple version of region. Building on the idea of landscape as repository, this article briefly outlines the importance of institutions (the University of British Columbia’s English Department and Poetry Conference in the early 1960s in particular) and literary archives for this methodology. In order to trace a more fugitive regionality, especially one with transnational aesthetic affiliations, one must be able to locate a writer/work among a constellation of documented influences and documented perspectives. This article then argues that Daphne Marlatt’s work from the 1970s to 2013 offers a particularly compelling example of how theorizing regionality can open up perception of regions and the writing that emerges from them. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:43:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e17a472e1ac46c09db41e732cffc2b4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:43:18Z |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e17a472e1ac46c09db41e732cffc2b42024-02-14T13:20:09ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93369310.4000/ejas.10428Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West CoastMichelle HartleyThis paper argues for “regionality” as a new term to address the intersection of geographical regions and writing from those regions. The limited applicability of traditionally conceived regionalism to the poetry of the Canadian West Coast demonstrates the need for this new term. The suffix “-ity” stands not for a faith in region or region as totality, but “an instance” or “a degree of” region. These “instances” accrue a processual and multiple version of region. Building on the idea of landscape as repository, this article briefly outlines the importance of institutions (the University of British Columbia’s English Department and Poetry Conference in the early 1960s in particular) and literary archives for this methodology. In order to trace a more fugitive regionality, especially one with transnational aesthetic affiliations, one must be able to locate a writer/work among a constellation of documented influences and documented perspectives. This article then argues that Daphne Marlatt’s work from the 1970s to 2013 offers a particularly compelling example of how theorizing regionality can open up perception of regions and the writing that emerges from them.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10428RegionalismCanadian literatureBritish ColumbiaDaphne MarlattAmerican New Poetry |
| spellingShingle | Michelle Hartley Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast European Journal of American Studies Regionalism Canadian literature British Columbia Daphne Marlatt American New Poetry |
| title | Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast |
| title_full | Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast |
| title_fullStr | Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast |
| title_full_unstemmed | Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast |
| title_short | Constructing a New Regionality: Daphne Marlatt and Writing the West Coast |
| title_sort | constructing a new regionality daphne marlatt and writing the west coast |
| topic | Regionalism Canadian literature British Columbia Daphne Marlatt American New Poetry |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10428 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michellehartley constructinganewregionalitydaphnemarlattandwritingthewestcoast |