A Tennessee Folklore Sampler

A Tennessee Folklore Sampler: Selections from the Tennessee Folklore Society [1935 - 2009]. Edited by Ted Olson and Anthony P. Cavender. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2009. $29.95 paper.)Any text seeking to detail the folklore of a particular geographic area faces a daunting task since it would need to encompass the broad categories of material culture, traditional folklife, and oral traditions of that area as well as the way that individual communities interpreted and adapted the folklore to fit their unique needs and wants. However, Ulis is precisely what A Tennessee Folklore Sampler does: it provides an overview of the folklife of the entire state - East, Middle, and West Tennessee - highlighting significant aspects of Tennessee's folklore in a way that is at once educational, enlightening, and entertaining, whether the reader is a seasoned folklorist or a novice to the discipline.Since I have studied folklore for many years, I brought certain expectations to die Sampler. I wanted more than historical fact or the retelling of legends; I wanted to know how die various communities only perpetuated their folklore but also how they lived dieir folk life, intertwining their beliefs, stories, and traditions into their everyday existence. The Sampler exceeded my expectations, especially with Charles Pendleton's Illicit Whiskey Making and Teresa Ann Bell Lockhart 's Twentieth Century Aspects of the Bell Witch. I particularly enjoyed these two essays, and both illustrate how the Sampler more than achieves its purpose of providing some representative materials from die Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin in the hopes of drawing renewed attention to the legacies of diat periodical and the Tennessee Folklore Society in general (xxiii).Charles Pendleton's Illicit Whiskey Making focuses on the tradition of moonshining, something readily associated with Tennessee. However, Pendleton de-romanticizes the familiar Hollywood portrayal of this tradition, showing its economic and social importance: illicit whiskey production was not a lazy man's job; it was difficult work that combined the materials at hand, social cooperation between neighbors, and a strong sense of individualism and independence to earn money that contributed to the survival of one's family (7). Through this article and the others centering on material culture traditions, readers get an interactive sense of how making products such as whiskey, baskets, Sorghum molasses, or Reelfoot lake boats require time, effort, and patience as well as how the quality of the final product, the economic benefit of selling such products, and the pride in mastering these arts far outweighs the process, even today.This undertone of pride in Tennessee's cultural traditions permeates the Sampler as readers are invited to share in other aspects of Tennesseans' folklife, from the social celebration of honoring newlyweds with a shivaree to the enjoyment of egg fights, anvil shootings, riddles, songs, and other activities that continue to bring communities together

Art · Folklife · Folklore · Folkloristics · Literature · Reading (process · Sociology · American Political and Social Dynamics · Anthropology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law

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  Open Access•Reet Hiiemäe•Keel ja Kirjandus•2020

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