Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture by Archie Green


Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture
Title : Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0807849200
ISBN-10 : 9780807849200
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 272
Publication : First published April 27, 2001

Archie Green--shipwright, folklorist, teacher, and lobbyist--was a legendary figure in the field of American folklore and vernacular culture studies. An inspiration to a generation of students and scholars, Green was known for the remarkable passion, intelligence, and curiosity he brought to his explorations of everyday people, their communities, their work, and their forms of expression.

This book gathers twelve essays intended to represent the range of Green's writings over forty years. Selections include a study of folk depictions in the art of Thomas Hart Benton, investigations of occupational and labor language, and a contemplative account of personal and political morality in the study of Appalachian musicians. In an afterword, Green traces his career and reflects on the state of folklore as a discipline.

Woven through the foreword by Robert Cantwell is Green's biography, key to understanding his unique mix of activism and scholarship.

Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture Reviews

  • Christine Henry

    Archie Green is undoubtedly one of the best chroniclers of folkways. His keen understanding of language, gesture, and action gives his interpretations a power that many observers lack. Each of the essays in this collection is a little gem. I wish that the editing could have been a bit more cohesive, as there were too many references to the creation of the Folkways program at the NEA. But I think that each and every one of these narratives gave me a glimpse not only in understanding the individual culture he described, but in how his investigative process worked. Reading each essay gave me the incentive to look deeper at the expressions, phrases, foods, and clothing that surround me. It made me try to unravel the ideas and traditions that I have incorporated into my own everyday living, and expanding my seeing to understanding.