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I don't know that Mark Twain is usually considered a "local colorist." Examples usually include Jewett, Cable, and Garland, but not Twain. I think the majority of scholars would argue that Twain's work transcends local color, which is often viewed--rightly or not--as being rather limited. -AW

Anybody think we should mention Faulkner here? (I don't know him well enough to know, myself.)

nope. The 20th century 'Southern Renaissance' is a different thing.

Local color IIRC involved using your characters for comic relief & had a certain implied condescension about it, which Twain generally has and Faulkner generally does not. I need to look up my notes (scrape off the top 3 inches of dust). From the way this entry is written it would seem Faulkner belongs, but I'm about 90% certain he does not. --KQ

I just stumbled upon the Wikipedia entry for local color. I see that the entry defines it as a style which "style relied heavily on using words, phrases, and slang that were native to the particular region in which the story took place," but discusses it mostly within the context of late 1800's southern U.S. fiction.

Now, Irvine Welsh writes about late 1900's Edinburgh, Scotland, but he writes in a style which conforms to the definition of "local color." If you've read his stuff, you'll know he often spells words to match the thick Scottish accents of his characters (like "cannae" instead of "cannot", or "hame" instead of "home"). Could he also be considered to use the "local color" style? -- DW

I've added this tag because the last paragraph states that it isn't necessarily a locality-related thing, so all the talk about it being mostly used re: the US South is contradictory. Also I'm fairly sure I've heard it used about several other places besides the US South. Recury 20:57, 31 August 2006 (UTC)Reply