Classifying the South: Library of Congress Subject Headings and their Impact upon United States Southern Literature

Classifying any body of literature is a difficult process, and for United States
southern literature, the difficulty of classification and the resounding implications are
amplified because of the difficulty in defining what "southern" is. On-going critical
discussion of the South has explored these issues, thus far, scholarly discourse on
southern literature and the problems of classification has been limited to the realm of the
theoretical. The primary focus of this study, however, is to consider practical
implications of this problem by evaluating the way subject headings implemented by the
Library of Congress not only classify, but also influence and shape southern literature.
Considering how southern literature is defined by these subject headings may prove to be
a useful tool, aiding the in the current reevaluation of the South and its literature, and
shedding light on how constructed borders affect users, as well as the literature itself.