Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture

273 Pages·2001·1.09 MB·English

by  Archie Green

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O ARCHIE
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THE FINK
BOOKS
and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture
   
TheUniversityof NorthCarolinaPress
ChapelHill&London

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FI ©
E TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
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RC byTsengInformationSystems,Inc.
TO ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
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n permanenceanddurabilityoftheCommitteeon
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G CouncilonLibraryResources.
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6 Thefollowingessayshavebeenpreviouslypublishedandarereprintedhereby
permissionoftheoriginalpublishers.
‘‘Dutchman:AnOn-the-JobEtymology,’’AmericanSpeech(December).
‘‘HillbillyMusic:SourceandSymbol,’’JournalofAmericanFolklore(July).
‘‘Laborlore,’’inFestivalofAmericanFolklife,editedbyRalphRinzler(Washington,D.C.:
SmithsonianInstitution,).Programbook.
‘‘AFolklorist’sCreedandaFolksinger’sGift,’’AppalachianJournal(Autumn–Winter–).
‘‘Austin’sCosmicCowboys:WordsinCollision,’’inAndOtherNeighborlyNames,editedby
RichardBaumanandRogerAbrahams(Austin:UniversityofTexasPress,).
‘‘TomBenton’sFolkDepictions,’’inThomasHartBenton,editedbyLindaWeintraub
(Annandale-on-Hudson,N.Y.:BardCollege,BlumArtInstitute,).
‘‘TheArchive’sShores,’’inFolklifeAnnual,editedbyAlanJabbourandJamesHardin
(Washington,D.C.:LibraryofCongress,AmericanFolklifeCenter,).
‘‘StitchingPatchworkinPublic,’’inTheConservationofCulture,editedbyBurtFeintuch
(Lexington:UniversityPressofKentucky,).
‘‘RememberingJackFitch,PileButtandArtist,onLaborDay,’’SanFranciscoExaminer,
September,.Op-edpiece.
‘‘KellyGirl,’’inCalf’sHeadandUnionTale(Urbana:UniversityofIllinoisPress,).
‘‘TorchingtheFinkBooks,’’WestCoastSailors(March,).Unionnewspaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Green,Archie.
Torchingthefinkbooksandotheressaysonvernacular
culture/ArchieGreen;forewordbyRobertCantwell.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
---(cloth:alk.paper)—
---(pbk.:alk.paper)
.Folklore—UnitedStates. .UnitedStates—
Sociallifeandcustoms. I.Title.
. 
'.—dc -
         
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I Foreword.InGoodSpirits,byRobertCantwell vii
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O Dutchman:AnOn-the-JobEtymology 
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n HillbillyMusic:SourceandSymbol 
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G Laborlore 

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2 AFolklorist’sCreedandaFolksinger’sGift 
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Austin’sCosmicCowboys:WordsinCollision 
TomBenton’sFolkDepictions 
TheArchive’sShores 
StitchingPatchworkinPublic 
RememberingJackFitch,PileButtandArtist,onLaborDay 
KellyGirl 
TorchingtheFinkBooks 
PeterTamony(–) 
Afterword.LookingBack 
BibliographyofArchieGreen’sWritings,– 
Index 

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ArchieGreenathome,ca..(PhotographbyHazenRobertWalker)

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S
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  
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Gr hichsideareyouon?Ifonlyitwereclear—asclear,

67 atleast,asitwasforthestrikingminersinHarlan
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County, Kentucky, in , whose song, ‘‘Which
Side Are You On?,’’ brooked no ambivalence. If
youweren’tfortheminers,youwerefortheopera-
tors; if not the unions, the bosses.Therewas too
much at stake for fine distinctions, and no room
for compromise; disinterestedness looked too much like cowardice.
Andyetthingsarecomplicated,aseveryreaderoftheseessayswillac-
knowledge;toeverystorytherearetwoorthreeorfivesides—eventhe
storyofwhatnowseemtobetheirresistibledevelopmentsinaglobal
capitalism,whosemiraclesofmarketinganddistribution,underwrit-
tenbythecommunicationsrevolutioninwhichweallmostlyhappily
share,bringintheirwakesuchold-fashionedevilsasspeeded-upand
sweatedlabor,nottomentionprodigiousnewcatalog-operatorpan-
opticonsofworkersurveillance.Whatisthesituationof ‘‘folklore’’in
this brave new world, and where is the folklorist—whose affiliations
are mostly, it seems, with the past and with distinctively nonglobal
communities—tostand?
Like so many labor actions after the beginning of the Great De-
pression,theHarlanCountycoalstrikeseemedtothoseinvolvedinit
nomerelocaldispute—acommunityofworkersagainstafamilyoli-
garchy—butaneruption,atacriticalplaceandtime,ofagreaterhis-
toricalstrugglewhoseoutcome,itseemed,woulddeterminethevery
characterofthesocietyofthefuture.Moreeventhanadebateabout
an economic system, it was a peculiarly American contest, ever and
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10 alwaysrevolutionary,betweenrightsandpowers,justiceandtyranny,
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sh and shining with a vision of a more perfect future that would follow

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OK Buttheabsolutesofthatmomenthavebecometheambiguitiesof
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ourown.Tothinkinasystemofideasisonething,todeclareallegiance
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I toitisanother;andwhilepoliticalaffiliationmaybetactical,notideo-
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E logical,wecannotbutlookonwithdismayasthosewithouttheleast
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ideologicalscruplecapturethefieldofaction.‘‘Myattentiontopoli-
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I tics . . . had always been more philosophical than practical,’’ Archie
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R Greenwritesinhisafterwordtothisvolume,‘‘forIconceivedpolitics
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inutopianratherthaninbackroomterms.’’Yetonecannotcomeaway
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en fromaconversationwithArchieGreen—andwillnotcomeawayfrom
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Gr a reading of his essays—without finding herself troubled, again, by

67 thestrangenewimmediacyandintimidatingpertinenceofthestriking
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miners’ question.Which side are you on? Archie has spent the better
part of his life endeavoring to answer that question—to bridge the
gapbetweenthecontemplativeandtheactivelife,toreconcileintellec-
tual responsibility with the responsibility we bear toward our fellow-
beings.
AsArchie’sconversation,hisexample,hiswriting,andhisspeaking
continuallyattest,wecannot,solongaswearecreaturesofparticular
times and places and are involved with one another in real situations
and circumstances, finallyavoid either the moral commitment or the
intellectualhonestythequestiondemands,foritdemandsboth.How-
everdispassionate,methodical,orrigorouswemayaspiretobe,weare
ultimately, and necessarily, on one side or the other—or, at thevery
least,weareembeddedinaninterest,anaffiliation,aloyaltyperhaps,
usuallyanundiscoveredone,aplaceorpositionfromwhichallwesay
anddomustultimatelyflow.Andnothingwesayordo,therefore,will
beanythingbutakindofreflex,amereunconsciousredundancythat
enunciates and enunciates again that interest or that loyalty until we
can incorporatewith our viewa consciousness of the principle from
whichitsprings.Andif,onconsideration,weshoulddiscoveritisa
principle towhich we cannot adhere, then we have no choice but to
change,notmerelyourprinciples,butourplace.
Andthat’sthehardpart.Onemustshakeoff indifference,listless-
ness, complicity, outright fear. The easiest way of life, for a person
of principle, is never the best, as Melville knew. And that is why we
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: viii Foreword
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sh quiringmind,indefatigableconversation,andever-restlesssearching

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OK fortableplaceintheworldofmiddle-classacademicsandintellectuals,
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manyofwhomfeelacutelytheincompatibilityoftheirsocialplaceand
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Thoughperfectlycapable,forexample,ofoperatingmachinery—
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R beforeandafterWorldWarII,andlaterabuildingcarpenteruptown—
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Archiedoesnot,orwillnot,driveanautomobile.Thoughendowed,
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en furthermore, with a culturally rich urban-ethnic upbringing, a wide
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67 liberalartsdegreefromBerkeleyandadoctoratefromtheUniversity
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of Pennsylvania, as well as an astonishinglycapacious and mercurial
imaginationandimmenseintellectualresources,hehasneverallowed
himselftoenjoythematerialrewardsandthecultivationofthepersonal
lifetowhichtheseachievementsandgiftsmighthaveentitledhim.
HisBerkeleydegree,forinstance,grantedin—especiallygiven
the impetus of a Ukrainian-Jewish heritage, with its emphasis upon
education, intellectual achievement, and social aspiration—might
haveopenedthedoorforanacademic,publicservice,orprofessional
career;but,drawnirresistiblyinsteadtoindustrialwork,hejoinedthe
CivilianConservationCorpsontheKlamathRiverimmediatelyafter
college—certainlythemostfatefuldecisionofhislife—andcasthislot
forgoodandallwiththeranksoftheworkingclass,dyeinghimselfso
deeplywithitscolorsthathisownsons(thesons,itshouldberemem-
bered, of a man whom we know now mostlyas a historian, scholar,
writer,andteacher)arethemselvesmasterelectriciansand,ofcourse,
unionmen.
But they came up when Archie was enjoying a modest living as a
union carpenter—a career he abandoned, at age forty, to pursue an
advanceddegree;swiftlyrisinginafewyearstoatenuredpositionin
the English Department at the Universityof Illinois, he gave that up
to lobby, successfully, for the passage of the American Folklife Act,
subsistingonsmallgrantsandatricklingofsoftmoneyfromWashing-
ton’stinyfolklifeestablishment.Havingreturned,finally,tothecozy
apricot-colored house on Caselli Street in San Francisco, originallya
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