The Nature of the Place
A Study of Great Plains Fiction
Published on 1. December 1996
Book
Paperback/Softback
203 pages
978-0-8032-8850-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Great Plains has long been fertile ground for literature. The Nature of the Place is a comprehensive study of novels and stories by such Plains writers as Willa Cather, Wright Morris, Mari Sandoz, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frederick Manfred, Wallace Stegner, and Bess Streeter Aldrich. Throughout, Diane Dufva Quantic is aware of the region's collective social and cultural history-aware of the immensely fruitful clash between that complex history and Plains myth (such as "Garden of the World" and "Great American Desert"). In the vast and changeable Great Plains, as Wright Morris once remarked, "Many things would come to pass, but the nature of the place would remain a matter of opinion."
Reviews / Votes
"Persuasive and engaging ... For those interested in understanding how the literature of a region both enacts and undermines its mythical past, Diane Quantic's book is the place to begin."-Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature "This interesting and accessible book focuses on a broad range of mythic Great Plains images and how they codified powerful emotions and social attitudes... Richly suggestive."-Choice Choice "All students of the Great Plains should welcome this [book]. Literary scholars will find [it] most useful, but so should cultural geographers as well as environmental and agricultural historians."-Kansas History Kansas HistoryMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
313 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8032-8850-8 (9780803288508)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Diane Dufva Quantic is an associate professor of English and director of the writing program at Wichita State University.