Stateless Regionalism and Corporate Power: Willa Cather's Public Relations Novel.

This article examines how early twentieth-century American novels, exemplified by Willa Cather's *A Lost Lady* (1923), focus on towns or counties rather than states to explore political totality and democratic action, introducing the concept of "stateless regionalism." In *A Lost Lady*, the fictional town of Sweet Water is subsumed by the railroad corporation, illustrating how corporate power can override traditional political jurisdictions and social institutions, effectively creating a "supergovernment" that diminishes state authority. The novel portrays Marian Forrester as a corporate public relations figure whose social status and identity fluctuate with the fortunes of the railroad, reflecting the entanglement of individual lives with corporate interests. This focus on localities over states aligns with broader literary trends of the period and suggests a political reality where democracy is vulnerable and political totality is fragmented by corporate dominance. The article argues that such novels provide insight into the lived experience of political jurisdictions under corporate influence, offering a "detotalized totality" that challenges conventional understandings of statehood and democracy.