On the question of "the planter novel" term

The article considers the tradition of the planter novel, which existed in the South of the USA in the 19th-20th centuries. The article gives various versions of the term “planter novel” and specifies their content. Besides, the article presents the periodization of the tradition according to different positions: 1) the period of the genre’s existence is limited to 1860-ies., i.e. the existence of the institution of slavery; 2) division into two waves - before the Civil War and after. The main stages of the development of the tradition are singled out. They are inception, flowering, ideologization, stagnation, revival and rethinking. The article also characterizes the main trends at each stage, calls the authors and the works that determined the nature of the tradition. It describes the origins of the topic and defines the code elements of the tradition, which, transformed, are repeated throughout the tradition: space-time topic (plantation locus and mythologized time), character system (patriarch of the family, southern lady-matron, elder son, daughter, black slaves / servants, neighbors, lawyer, businessman), plot schemes (a fall of the south dynasty, racial confusion) and rhetorical topic (stable cliches, for example, “lady flower”). It is proved that the development of the tradition of the planter novel served as an impetus for the emergence of a galaxy of authors who refuted the southern myth in their works.