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The American Folkways is a 28-volume series of books, initiated and principally edited by Erskine Caldwell, and published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce from 1941 to 1955.〔''Firsts Magazine'', v.8, n.5 (May 1998).〕 Each book focused on a different region, or "folkway", of the United States, including documentary essays and folklore from that region.〔Sylvia J. Cook, "Modernism from the Bottom Up", pp.56- 76, in ''Reading Erskine Caldwell: New Essays'' ed. by Robert L. McDonald (2006).〕 The books were written by local experts, describing "their" region.〔William Stott, ''Documentary Expression and Thirties America'' (University of Chicago Press, 1973), p.232.〕 Many of the individual volumes have become regarded as classics in folklore, local history, and American writing, and a number of them have been issued in multiple editions or are still in print. Caldwell initiated the series after returning to the United States from reporting on the German invasion of Russia.〔James Korges, ''Erskine Caldwell'' (University of Minnesota Press, 1969), pp.8-9.〕 He had conceived of the series while in Europe, imagining an Americana regional series in which regionalists would "describe and interpret the indigenous quality of life".〔Caldwell, quoted in Harvey L. Klevar, ''Erskine Caldwell: A Biography'', p.219.〕 His proposal was rejected by editors Marshall Best and Harold Guinzburg at Viking, but accepted by Charles Duell and Samuel Sloan as a foundational series of their new press, and as an opportunity for their press to acquire Caldwell's future works.〔Klevar, pp.219-220; Mixon, p.121.〕 In 1939 he began traversing the country, soliciting authors for the series, and by the end of the year had elicited commitments from five writers.〔Mixon, pp.121-122.〕 Caldwell ultimately edited 25 volumes of the series (three additional volumes were published), and twenty separate regions were covered by the series.〔Mixon, p.122.〕 The volumes were intended to focus on cultural regions, not political boundaries.〔 He rejected the term "folklore", choosing instead to use the term "folkways" to reflect "the study of contemporary life in terms of its social and economic implications."〔Mixon, pp.122-123.〕 Caldwell was a detailed and focused editor, urging writers to hew to his vision – documenting and commenting on particular cultural regions, not sanitizing their subject, but reflective of the author's distinctive voice and regionalist character.〔 == Works in the series == * #1 ''Desert Country'' by Edwin Corle (1941) * #3 ''Short Grass Country'' by Stanley Vestal (1941) * #4 ''Big Country: Texas'' by Donald Day (1947) * #8 ''Palmetto Country'' by Stetson Kennedy (1942) * #9 ''Far North Country'' by Thames Williamson (1944) * #13 ''North Star Country'' by Meridel Le Sueur (1945) * # 15 or #16 ''Lower Piedmont Country: The Uplands of the Deep South'' by H. C. Nixon and Sarah N. Shouse (photographer) (1946) * #20 ''Rocky Mountain Country'' by Albert Nathaniel Williams (1950) * ''Piñon Country'' by Haniel Long (1941) * ''Ozark Country'' by Otto Ernest Rayburn (1941) * ''Blue Ridge Country'' by Jean Thomas (1942) * ''Mormon Country'' by Wallace Stegner (1942) * ''High Border Country'' by Eric Thane (1942) * ''Deep Delta Country'' by Harnett Thomas Kane (1944) * ''Golden Gate Country'' by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (1945) * ''Town Meeting Country'' by Clarence Mertoun Webster (1945) * ''Southern California: An Island on the Land'' by Carey McWilliams (1946) (''Southern California Country'') * ''Corn Country'' by Homer Croy (1947) * ''Niagara Country'' by Lloyd Graham (1949) * ''Redwood Country : The Lava Region and the Redwoods'' by Alfred Powers (1949) * ''Wheat Country'' by William B. Bracke (1950) * ''Pittsylvania Country'' by George Swetnam 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American Folkways series」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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