DOCSLIB.ORG

“It's in the Blood, Walter. It's in the Bones”: T. C. Boyle's World's End

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“It's in the Blood, Walter. It's in the Bones”: T. C. Boyle's World's End “It’s in the blood, Walter. It’s in the bones”: T. C. Boyle’s World’s End and the Burden of the Past Peter Freese ABSTRACT T. C. Boyle’s third novel World’s End (1987) is an accomplished historiographical metafiction whose many-stranded plot unfolds the history of two Dutch immigrant families and the indig- enous Kitchawanks in the Hudson Valley in the years between 1663 and 1694 and again in 1968/69. This essay investigates how Boyle uses the actual Peekskill Riots of 1949 as the starting point for a “pastless” would-be hippie’s search for his father and how he embeds this quest in a convoluted chain of events whose extensive timescale of three hundred years is offset by the spatial limitations of a narrowly circumscribed region. The essay then shows how Boyle combines historical accuracy based on personal experience and extensive research with flights of magical inventiveness and how he uses the regional superstition of the Dunderberg Imp as well as recurring intertextual refer- ences to the tales of Washington Irving to conflate the real and the magical in the fashion of his admired model Gabriel García Márquez. The essay then demonstrates how Boyle employs eating aberrations from cannibalism and terraphagia to binge eating and starvation to create surpris- ing links between colonial and present events, and how he uses the iterative motif of betrayal to develop a deterministic understanding of history. The essay concludes that Boyle’s idiosyncratic style, which is full of humorous comparisons, unexpected images and extravagant metaphors, is not only used for the satirical unmasking of human pretensions and social aberrations but also for the gradual unfolding of a bleakly pessimistic version of the New World’s past and present and a convincing rejection of the promise of the American Dream. World’s End was a way of redeeming some of the things from my past; it was an attempt to get some of it back, or at least to explore it, to think about it. […] As a kid I had no notion of the history and tradition of the Hudson Valley. Then eight or nine years ago I began to reread Washington Irving and to absorb the legends and myths surrounding the area. The whole experience brewed up some pretty potent material. In 1983 I spent four months there, working mainly at the Peek- skill Library and going to all the historic sites and homes. (qtd. Brisick) When, in 1987, T. Coraghessan Boyle published his third novel, World’s End, it was widely received as his breakthrough work. The laudatory reviews ranged from Benjamin De Mott’s praise that “World’s End is a smashing good book, the peak achievement thus far in a career that seems now to have no clear limits” to Michael Dolan’s statement that “with this book [Boyle] launches himself at the circle of such as Robert Penn Warren and William Faulkner.” And Boyle’s fellow writer Russell Banks admiringly observed: “What knocked me out was the book’s ambition. It took [Boyle] out of the category of witty, clever social satire and put him in another league. He reached for the moon, and maybe he didn’t get it all, but he risked the talent, and that’s a scary thing to do” (qtd. Adams, “T. Coraghessan”). 46 Peter Freese In contrast to Boyle’s previous novels Water Music (1982), which fictionalizes the eighteenth-century Scottish explorer Mungo Park’s adventures in Western Africa, and Budding Prospects (1984), which deals with illegal marijuana farm- ers in Mendocino County, California, the far-ranging and many-layered story of World’s End, according to Michiko Kakutani, “attempts not only to examine the implications of the American Dream, as [Boyle’s] done in earlier works, but also to tackle the complicated issues of freedom, class and race involved in the found- ing of our nation.” The convoluted story unfolds on Boyle’s home turf, and the central place of action, the town of “Peterskill-on-the-Hudson” (4), is a fictional projection of the City of Peekskill in Westchester County, New York, where Boyle was born in 1948. Boyle confirmed in several interviews that the details of the novel’s action are either taken out of his own contemporary world or are the re- sults of his copious historical research, and he admitted to Justin D. Coffin that “One genius critic said that World’s End is a kind of fictional autobiography. And I loved that, because that’s what it is. I don’t know my genealogy much: I would just rather invent it.” As in many of his novels, the seed from which Boyle develops his story is a particular historical event, the so-called Peekskill Riots of 1949. In the summer of that year, tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was growing and the House Un-American Activities Committee was investigating subversive activities by citizens suspected of Communist ties. In a climate that would soon bloom into what is known as McCarthyism, left-leaning Peekskill citizens dared to schedule a benefit concert for the Civil Rights Congress with the famous black baritone Paul Robeson in Lakeland Acres, north of the city, for August 27, 1949. Since Robeson was known for his civil rights activities, his anti-colonialism, and his positive view of the Soviet Union, a mob of self-styled patriots prevented this concert by attacking visitors and seriously injuring thirteen of them with stones and baseball bats, lynching Robeson in effigy, and burning a cross on a nearby hill. Afterwards, the Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill denied any involvement, the local police maintained that the riot had happened outside their jurisdiction, and the state police declared that no troopers had been requested. But union members and other left-wing locals did not give in and re-scheduled the concert for September 4. It took place on an abandoned golf course in Cortlandt Manor and was attended by 20,000 people, with security organized by the Communist Party and labor unions. Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie, Lee Hays, and other folk singers performed and then Robeson sang surrounded by bodyguards. But this time the protesters, many of them drunk, had positioned themselves along the road from the concert grounds and, shouting anti-black and anti-Jewish taunts, threw rocks at the cars and buses bringing the visitors home and dragged some of them from their vehicles and beat them up. Some visitors and union members, among them the writer Howard Fast, formed a non-violent line of resistance and sang “We Shall Not Be Moved,” but with the police standing back, more than 140 people were injured and many vehicles were damaged. The two riots received na- tionwide coverage: churches, trade unions, and prominent individuals condemned the governor, the state, and the local police and called for an investigation, but the mainstream press and the local Peekskill officials argued that Robeson and “It’s in the blood, Walter. It’s in the bones” 47 his fans had “provoked” the violence. With the riots remembered in numerous songs, videos, and films, the Peekskill authorities tried hard to get rid of their city’s unwanted fame as a haven of intolerance and bigotry, and as late as 1999 Westchester County held a “Remembrance and Reconciliation Ceremony, 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the 1949 Peekskill Riots,” at which Paul Robe- son, Jr., and Peter Seeger gave speeches. In 1989, Boyle told Jef Tombeur: “I grew up in one of the most liberal neigh- borhoods in America. […] I grew up amongst many Russian Jews who founded an anarchist colony which later became a Communist colony. One of the most liberal communities, certainly, in America […] and we felt very liberal about everything, radical almost.” For him, then, the memory of the riots must have been alive and embarrassing, and thus it is small wonder that he made not only the riots but also the world of the concert organizers central elements of World’s End. The novel’s protagonist, Walter Van Brunt, and his foster parents live in one of the “hundred identically cozy little Kitchawank Colony bungalows” (212) in a colony that really exists—“Kitchawank Colony is a true place” (qtd. Tombeur). This is also the case with Walter’s friend’s cabin in the woods, about which Boyle said: “It would be nice to move to Tom Crane’s cabin, which exists, by the way, and which is in need of a tenant right now, and live a simpler life” (qtd. Adams, “An Interview” 55). And it is equally true with regard to the sailing boat Arcadia, which Tom Crane loves as “a miracle […] dedicated to all the great hippie ideals” (425) and which is a fictional variant of the folk singer Pete Seeger’s environmental sloopClearwater . World’s End consists of two parts, “Martyr’s Reach” and “World’s End,” whose titles refer to particular sections of the Hudson River and which contain nineteen and fifteen chapters respectively. The novel’s many-stranded action unfolds the multi-generational story of three families in the seventeenth and the twentieth centuries and reveals both the changes and the continuities in long-term histori- cal developments by moving back and forth between two widely different epochs. The “present” action, which deals with Walter Van Brunt’s search for his father and the accidents befalling him on his “hopeless quest” (395), takes place from 1968 to 1969 and fills twenty-four chapters (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Road to Wellville
    The Road to Wellville 1994 496 pages The Road to Wellville T.C. Boyle 110164026X, 9781101640265 Penguin, 1994 Will Lightbody is a man with a stomach ailment whose only sin is loving his wife, Eleanor, too much. Eleanor is a health nut of the first stripe, and when in 1907 she journeys to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's infamous Battle Creek Spa to live out the vegetarian ethos, poor Will goes too.So begins T. Coraghessan Boyle's wickedly comic look at turn-of-the-century fanatics in search of the magic pill to prolong their lives--or the profit to be had from manufacturing it. Brimming with a Dickensian cast of characters and laced with wildly wonderful plot twists, Jane Smiley in the New York Times Book Review called The Road to Wellville "A marvel, enjoyable from beginning to end." file download busuvar.pdf A Novel Fiction T.C. Boyle The Women ISBN:1440686211 Feb 10, 2009 464 pages From "America's most imaginative contemporary novelist" (Newsweek), a novel of Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life. Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Jul 1, 2011 Walter Van Brunt is a dreamer, and a lover of drugs, alcohol and speed. He likes nothing better than to fly along on his motorbike, invincible and immortal. But one day T. C. Boyle ISBN:9781408826737 World's End 480 pages Fiction 1998 ISBN:1862071551 Water Music 437 pages The year is 1795: George III is dabbing the walls of Windsor castle with spittle, Goya is deaf, De Quincey is a depraved pubescent and young Ludwig van Beethoven is wowing them Africa, West T.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Prämierten Künstler Und Künstlerinnen Der Kreativprämie
    Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst Sperrfrist Bekanntgabe der Prämierten: Mittwoch, 16. 12., 12 Uhr Die prämierten Künstler und Künstlerinnen der Kreativprämie Szenenbild Etabliert: Anette Reuther mit „Nur Gott kann mich richten“ (2017) von Özgür Yildirim, Spielfilm (Drama), 101 Min. Nachwuchs: Martha Funke mit „8:27“ (2019) von Matthias Kreter, Kurzspielfilm (Komödie), 13 Min. Kostüm Etabliert: Katharina Schnelting mit „Der süße Brei“ (2018) von Frank Stoye, TV- Spielfilm (Märchen), 90 Min. Nachwuchs: Niklas Braun mit „Dunyaland“ (2020) von Julie Gaston, Experimentalfilm, 10 Min. Maske Etabliert: Regine Frohberg mit „Der dritte König“ (2018) von Christoph Oliver Strunck, Mittellanger Spielfilm (Kriegsdrama), 25 Min. Nachwuchs: Sebile Zehra Berber & Rüya Yüksel mit „Dunyaland“ (2020) von Julie Gaston, Experimentalfilm, 10 Min. Visuelle Effekte Etabliert: Martin Jurado mit „Pettersson und Findus – Findus zieht um“ (2018) von Ali Samadi Ahadi, Kinderfilm, 90 Min. Nachwuchs: Robin Benito Schmid mit A CLOUD ON FIRE (2018) von Julie Gaston, Ex-perimentalfilm, 15 Min. 2 Ton / Sounddesign Etabliert: Michel Klöfkorn mit „Born In Evin“ (2019) von Maryam Zaree, Dokumentarfilm, 98 Min. Nachwuchs: Alexandros Konstantaras mit „Kira“ (2019) von Vanessa Dahl, Kurzspielfilm (Drama), 4 Min. Filmmusik Etabliert: Andreas Radzuweit mit „Die sagenhaften Vier“ (2018) von Christoph Lauen- stein/ Wolfgang Lauenstein, Animationsfilm, 92 Min. Nachwuchs: Robin Wächtershäuser mit „Ria“ (2019) von Dennis Baumann, Kurzspielfilm (Drama/ Mystery/ Fantasy), 20 Min. Kamera Etabliert: Vita Spieß mit „Heil dich doch selbst“ (2020/21) von Yasmin C. Rams, Dokumentarfilm, 106 Min. Nachwuchs: Dennis Mill mit „Das rote Rad“ (2019) von Nicolas Ehret, Mittellanger Spielfilm (Drama), 30 Min. Schnitt Etabliert: Eva Voosen mit „Mutterland – Das Matriarchat der Minangkabau“ von Uschi Madeisky/ Dagmar Margotsdotter/ Yelfia Susanti, Dokumentarfilm, 93 Min.
    [Show full text]
  • Arv Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2020
    Arv Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2020 ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore Vol. 76 Editor ARNE BUGGE AMIUNDSEN OSLO, NORWAY Editorial Board Lene Halskov Hansen, København; Fredrik Skott, Göteborg; Suzanne Österlund-Poetzsch, Helsingfors (Helsinki); Terry Gunnell, Reykjavik Published by THE ROYAL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ACADEMY UPPSALA, SWEDEN Distributed by eddy.se ab VISBY, SWEDEN © 2020 by The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy, Uppsala ISSN 0066-8176 All rights reserved Articles appearing in this yearbook are abstracted and indexed in European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences ERIH PLUS 2011– Editorial address: Prof. Arne Bugge Amundsen Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages University of Oslo Box 1010 Blindern NO–0315 Oslo, Norway phone + 4792244774 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/forskning/publikasjoner/tidsskrifter/arv/index.html Cover: Kirsten Berrum For index of earlier volumes, see http://www.gustavadolfsakademien.se/tidskrifter/tidskrift/arv Distributor eddy.se ab e-post:[email protected] Box 1310, S-621 24 Visby Telefon +46(0)498 25 39 00 http://kgaa.bokorder.se Printed in Sweden Exakta Print, Malmö 2020 Contents Articles on Digital Humanities and Folklore Peter M. Broadwell & Timothy R. Tangherlini: Geist, Geest, Geast, Spøgelse: Challenges for Multilingual Search in Belief Legend Archives ........................................................................................... 7 Venla Sykäri: Digital Humanities and How to Read the Kalevala as a Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry .............................................. 29 Trausti Dagsson & Olga Holownia: Legends, Letters and Linking: Lessons Learned from Amassing and Mapping Folklore and Viewing as Part of 19th-Century Culture Creation .......................... 55 Katherine S. Beard: The Eitri Database: A Digital Humanities Case Study .......................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Wildwill's Collector's Guide to Wizkids' Pirates of the Spanish Main
    WildWill’s Collector’s Guide to WizKids’ By Captain William “WildWill” Noetling Includes Price Guides, Collector’s Checklists, Bonus Game Scenario and MORE! WildWill’s Collector’s Guide to WizKids’ Pirates of the Spanish Main. Copyright ©2006 by William Noetling. This guide was created for educational and entertainment purposes only. All prices lists are printed as a guide only, and not an offer to buy or sell game pieces. This guide is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured within this guide. This is not an Official Publication. This guide and its editorial content remain the property of the writer and publisher. Written permission must be obtained from the author to publish, circulate, or otherwise disseminate this guide in any altered form, except for review purposes. All ship, crew and other game piece names and representations remain the property of WizKids. Portions of this guide have previously appeared on the website Pojo.com in a slightly altered form. All Prices Listed are current as of June 2006 and are representative of new “mint- condition” game pieces. Email me at [email protected] Visit my home page at www.geocities.com/wmnoe Join me at www.pojo.com WildWill would like to thank: WizKids Games, Pojo.com, Monica Lond-LeBlanc, Bill ‘Pojo’ Gill, James and Robin Hurwitz, Pat Pritchett, Stephanie Veglia.and Wendy Harrison Special Thanks to all my instructors and TA’s at UCLA from 2004 to 2006, especially: Joseph DiMuro, Michael Allen, Sean Silver, Noah Comet, Lars Larsen, Helen Deutsch and Irene Beesemyer Extra Special Thanks to my loving wife Melissa Pritchett, whom I cannot live without.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fabled Coast
    The Fabled Coast Coastal and Maritime Folklore, Superstitions and Customs Saturday 27 April 2019 Contents Programme ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Panel 1a: Mermaids in fairy tales and fantasy fiction .............................................................................. 5 M.N. Meimaridi, ‘Come seek us where our voices sound’; Reading the Mermaid in Harry Potter’ ..... 5 Andy McCormack, ‘“Now listen, this is important”’: Andersen’s sea-witch, Disney’s Ursula, and the making of a cultural icon’ ....................................................................................................................... 5 Francesca Arnavas, ‘British and Irish Mermaids in Four Contemporary Fairy Tales’ ............................ 6 Panel 1b: Sacred waters: the benefits of water in myth and folklore..................................................... 6 Ulker Yusifova, ‘The sea as chthonic place in eastern mythological thinking’ ...................................... 6 Mariam Zia, ‘Khizer and the “Sea of Stories”’ ........................................................................................ 7 Rosalind Kerven, ‘Native American “Salmon Country”: A Sacred Place Beneath the Sea’ .................... 7 Panel 2a: The sea in poetry and soundscapes .......................................................................................... 8 Ellen Howley, ‘The Mythic Sea in Irish and Caribbean Poetry’ .............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Tortilla Curtain by T.C
    The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle Page 1 Tips for Book Discussions from Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library Reading Critically Books that make excellent choices for discussion groups have a good plot, well-drawn characters, and a polished style. These books usually present the author’s view of an important truth and not infrequently send a message to the reader. Good books for discussion move the reader and stay in the mind long after the book is read and the discussion is over. These books can be read more than once, and each time we learn something new. Reading for a book discussion—whether you are the leader or simply a participant—differs from reading purely for pleasure. As you read a book chosen for a discussion, ask questions and mark down important pages you might want to refer back to. Make notes like, “Is this significant?” or “Why does the author include this?” Making notes as you go slows down your reading but gives you a better sense of what the book is really about and saves you the time of searching out important passages later. Obviously, asking questions as you go means you don’t know the answer yet, and often you never do discover the answers. But during discussion of your questions, others may provide insight for you. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions because often the author is presenting difficult issues for that very purpose. As with any skill, good literary consciousness grows with practice. You can never relax your vigilance because a good author uses every word to reveal something.
    [Show full text]
  • Som Folklorist Ämneshistoria
    Carl Wilhelm von Sydow von Wilhelm Carl Etnologer och antropologer studerar människan som kultur­ varelse i gången tid och nutid. Själva träder de vanligen tillbaka och fokuserar helt på »de andra». Men sedan humanistisk forskning mer och mer presenteras som ett samtal eller en be­ rättelse med olika parter måste ljuset också falla på forskarna själva. Biografisk forskning har glädjande nog på nytt fått in­ tresse inte bara bland allmänheten utan också i forskarvärlden. I denna bok gör författaren en ingående analys av folkmin­ nesforskningens grundare i Sverige Carl Wilhelm von Sydow (1878–1952). Vi får möta en fascinerande personlighet och följa hans kamp för sitt ämne i olika nätverk med såväl vänner som motståndare. Hans livsöde är nära sammanflätat med hans forskning. Boken är därför på en gång en biografi och ett stycke folklorist som ämneshistoria. Nils­Arvid Bringéus var under åren 1967–1991 innehavare av lärostolen i etnologi, särskilt europeisk, vid Lunds universitet. Boken avslutas med ett kåseri av Max von Sydow om sin far hållet i Lund 1988 och med en bibliografi av Jan­Öjvind Swahn, en av von Sydows sista lärjungar. Nils-ArvidBringéus Carl Wilhelm Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur von Sydow Distribution: Swedish Science Press som folklorist Box 118 se­751 04 Uppsala issn 0065­0897 Nils-Arvid Bringéus E­post: [email protected] isbn1 9 ­85352­65­9 ACTA ACADEMIAE REGIAE GUSTAVI ADOLPHI 94 Sydow_inlaga.indd 1 06-12-01 11.49.52 Sydow_inlaga.indd 2 06-12-01 11.49.52 ACTA ACADEMIAE REGIAE GUSTAVI ADOLPHI XCIV Nils-Arvid Bringéus Carl Wilhelm von Sydow som folklorist UPPSALA 2006 Kungl.
    [Show full text]
  • The Isle Royale Folkefiskerisamfunn: Familier Som Levde Av Fiske
    THE ISLE ROYALE FOLKEFISKERISAMFUNN: FAMILIER SOM LEVDE AV FISKE An Ethnohistory of the Scandinavian Folk Fishermen of Isle Royale National Park Prepared for The National Park Service Midwest Regional Office and Isle Royale National Park By Rebecca S. Toupal Richard W. Stoffle M. Nieves Zedeño January 22, 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................... ix CHAPTER ONE: Study Overview............................................................................... 1 List of Participants ............................................................................................ 2 Schedule of Activities....................................................................................... 3 Structure of the Research.................................................................................. 3 Archival Review ............................................................................................... 3 Oral Histories.................................................................................................... 5 Context of the Report........................................................................................ 5 On-Site Visits.................................................................................................... 9 Analysis and Write-Up ....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with T.C. Boyle Interview Conducted November 23, 1998
    Interview with T.C. Boyle Interview conducted November 23, 1998. Originally published on the Authors site at About.com, 15 December 1998. Subsequently republished on T.C. Boyle Net, 15 April 2001. <http://www.tcboyle.net/scott.html> Scott Rettberg T.C. Boyle is one of America’s most before I went to Iowa, it was one of the prolific contemporary authors, with seven stories that got me in there, and got me novels and five short story collections to published. Now I also have probably his credit, written over the course of his thirty or forty stories I published in that twenty-five year career. Boyle’s oeuvre period that I have never collected, and runs all over the map, from historical never will. And again, this collection novels, including Riven Rock and The Road wasn’t my idea, it was my editor’s idea, to to Wellville, to the zany story of a kind of show the audience that’s come to marijuana farm in Budding Prospects, to me over the last three novels that there’s politically relevant satire like The Tortilla also a lot of work in the short story. I Curtain. I talked with Boyle one liked the idea after a while, they talked me afternoon at the Whitehall Hotel in into it, but I do like it, because I see it as Chicago. He was in Chicago to read at Volume I, you know? I have a lot of work, Harold Washington Library from his new this is Volume I. Volume II, give me collection, T.C.
    [Show full text]
  • GPS Dissertation UPLOAD 18/4/30
    “Almost Poetic”: Alfred Döblin’s Subversive Theater Geraldine Poppke Suter Manrode, Germany B.A., Bridgewater College, 2006 M.A., James Madison University, 2008 M.A., University of Virginia, 2013 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Virginia May, 2018 Benjamin K. Bennett Jeffrey A. Grossman Volker Kaiser John L. Parker © 2018 Geraldine Poppke Suter Dedicated to the memory of Hans-Jürgen Wrede “Am Bahnhof stand ein Sauerampfer, sah immer nur Züge und nie einen Dampfer. Armer Sauerampfer.” — Hans-Jürgen Wrede, frei nach Joachim Ringelnatz Abstract This dissertation explores elements of objectification, artistic control, and power in three of Döblin’s plays: Lydia und Mäxchen, Comteß Mizzi, and Die Ehe. In the first chapter I address the nature of, and relationships between, characters and things that people these plays, and outline Döblin’s animation of props, and their elevation to the status of characters in his initial play Lydia und Mäxchen, the objectification of characters in his second play Comteß Mizzi, and a combination thereof in his final play Die Ehe. In the second chapter I treat issues of artistic control. While his debut play contains multiple and unconventional loci of control, the focus of his second play lies on artistic restrictions and its consequences. In his final play Döblin addresses social forces which rule different classes. In the third chapter I connect the elements of objectification and uprising with matters of control by arguing that Döblin employs Marxist themes throughout his plays.
    [Show full text]
  • Myth and Mentality and Myth Studia Fennica Folkloristica
    Commission 1935–1970 Commission The Irish Folklore Folklore Irish The Myth and Mentality Studies in Folklore and Popular Thought Edited by Anna-Leena Siikala Studia Fennica Folkloristica The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) was founded in 1831 and has, from the very beginning, engaged in publishing operations. It nowadays publishes literature in the fields of ethnology and folkloristics, linguistics, literary research and cultural history. The first volume of the Studia Fennica series appeared in 1933. Since 1992, the series has been divided into three thematic subseries: Ethnologica, Folkloristica and Linguistica. Two additional subseries were formed in 2002, Historica and Litteraria. The subseries Anthropologica was formed in 2007. In addition to its publishing activities, the Finnish Literature Society maintains research activities and infrastructures, an archive containing folklore and literary collections, a research library and promotes Finnish literature abroad. Studia Fennica Editorial board Anna-Leena Siikala Rauno Endén Teppo Korhonen Pentti Leino Auli Viikari Kristiina Näyhö Editorial Office SKS P.O. Box 259 FI-00171 Helsinki www.finlit.fi Myth and Mentality Studies in Folklore and Popular Thought Edited by Anna-Leena Siikala Finnish Literature Society · Helsinki Studia Fennica Folkloristica 8 The publication has undergone a peer review. The open access publication of this volume has received part funding via a Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation grant. © 2002 Anna-Leena Siikala and SKS License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International A digital edition of a printed book first published in 2002 by the Finnish Literature Society. Cover Design: Timo Numminen EPUB: Tero Salmén ISBN 978-951-746-371-3 (Print) ISBN 978-952-222-849-9 (PDF) ISBN 978-952-222-848-2 (EPUB) ISSN 0085-6835 (Studia Fennica) ISSN 1235-1946 (Studia Fennica Folkloristica) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sff.8 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing the Nation
    CH •X ANG DF E P w Click to buy NOW! w m o w c .d k. ocu•trac CONSTRUCTING THE NATION: THE ROLE OF THE BALLAD IN TWENTIETH CENTURY GERMAN NATIONAL IDENTITY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SCOTLAND. Kirsten Kearney Submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy School of Languages, Cultures and Religions • German University of Stirling January 2007 CH •X ANG DF E P w Click to buy NOW! w m o w c .d k. ocu•trac ii Abstract This thesis focuses on the importance of the ballad in constructing national identity in Germany during the 20th century from 1918•1978. It presents a comparative approach using Scotland as a comparator, based on three significant time periods throughout the century: the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era and the German folk revival. In each of these eras the issue of national awareness was most in evidence and national identity was being created or was a particular object of tension. The modern Scottish literary renaissance and the Scottish folk revival will be used for comparative purposes. The comparative approach will also aid a deeper understanding of the concept of national identity itself. The hypothesis is that the ballad has contributed to the development of national identity in specific and differing ways in the two countries. Selected artists; poets, singers and Liedermacher have been chosen as representatives for each particular stage. The ballad in the 20th century has previously received little critical attention, thus this period has been chosen as the time frame of the thesis in an attempt to redress this balance and create new knowledge.
    [Show full text]