Small-town America ”cluster”?

I picked up a copy of Main Street at a reasonable price, then read an old 4th of July thread here and went for Ah, Wilderness! and Our Town (intrigued by the connections to the movie Dogville). I already had Winesburg, Ohio. Is it fair to call this a thematic cluster within the LEC’s output? Spoon River continues to evade me in NF/F affordable terms. Am I missing any titles? The Circus of Dr Lao seems like an edge case.

>1 GusLogan: Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath come to mind.

>1 GusLogan:

Ethan Frome.

>1 GusLogan:

A Lost Lady.

>1 GusLogan: If we are talking about portraits of America not set in metropolitan areas and irrespective of period: many of Twain's books, of course, Snow-Bound, Rip van Winkle, Main Street, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Little Women, Tales of the Gold Rush, The Virginian, Ramona, Green Grow the Lilacs, Uncle Remus, many of Fenimore Cooper's, and Up From Slavery.

Hmm - gratefully reading the replies I’m wondering whether Main Street, Winesburg, Ohio, Our Town and Spoon River don’t stand out as being about (the essence of American?) small town life as opposed to being set in small towns?

Main Street, Spoon River and Winesburg are more alike in their embodying the essence of small town America (likewise Ah, Wilderness!). Our Town is about larger concerns, and not so specific in its Americanisn as the others.

>7 Django6924: Thank you! I hope one day to see more of the US.

And thanks to all respondents above. Once more my LEC target list has grown somewhat, though I’m not sure I’ll budget for Grapes of Wrath - there a Folio Society edition might have to suffice.

Our Town is one of the most amazing books the LEC produced, in large part because they managed to get Thorton Wilder's signature - and the illustrations are lovely too :)

Here's a discussion of the play, by someone that wrote a book on the play
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/jan/20/thornton-wilder-our-town-is-americ...

>9 astropi:
I’m delighted with your take and the article, which make 70 bucks incl. the ML seem like a bargain. I didn’t realize I was getting the author’s signature with this one (as with Spoon River).

>10 GusLogan: Aw, this conversation is prompting me to re-read Our Town, one of my favorite plays. I wish I had the LEC. Enjoy your copy!

>10 GusLogan: $70?? dirt cheap :O
You got a bargain! Oh, and I'm also going to add to your list

The Journals of the Expedition of Lewis & Clark (1962, 2 volumes)

A magnificent production!

Ah, Wilderness! must be one of the least popular LECs, judging by price and availability? I guess it is from the wilderness years! Certainly I myself would have preferred Mourning becomes Electra and/or Long Day’s Journey Into Night over this and The Iceman Cometh. Maybe a volume with several plays, like the Marlowe.

>13 GusLogan:
Don't understand the lack of popularity for Ah, Wilderness!--it's always been one of my favorite O'Neil plays just below Long Day's Journey and The Iceman Cometh. I did my master's thesis on O'Neil and doggedly read all his works. The range is rather astounding and it wasn't until I saw a production of Moon for the Misbegotten that I realized that many of his plays, which seem unconvincing on the page, only come alive on the stage. My three favorites hold up better on reading than many of the others, though I'm still convinced Mourning Becomes Electra is not among the playwright's best work (though I have only seen the movie version with Rosalind Russell).