When James Lane Allen defined the Feminine Principle and the Masculine Principle in American fiction for the Atlantic Monthly in 1897, he in effect described local color fiction and naturalism, two branches of realism often regarded as bearing little relationship to each other. In this award-winning study of both movements, Resisting Regionalism explores the effect the cultural dominance of women s local color fiction in the 1890 s had on young male naturalist writers, who rebelled against the local colorists and their teacup tragedies.
An immensely popular genre, local color fiction...