Jan 17, 2007
Unlikely Connections
Eighteen months ago, we took a look at Guy Davenport's essay on"Hobbitry," which appeared in his book, The Geography of the Imagination. Davenport speculated that J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbits had their origins in stories he heard from Allen Barnett about country folk in Barnett's home in central Kentucky. Jonathan Wilson, Jeremy Boggs, and David Bratman's research (scroll down) suggested that the argument was dubious -- neither proved nor disproved.
Davenport's speculation seems no more unlikely, however, than Dumneazu's argument for the Appalachian roots of the Klezmer revival. Joel at Far Outliers and Nathanael at Rhine River put me on to this unlikely connection. And, if you don't check out some of Dumneazu's links, you're missin' the good stuff, like the string band, Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters. When I could talk him into it, my Confederate grandaddy used to sing"Old Joe Clark" and"Are You Washed in the Blood" was evangelical comfort food. If Nathanael will bring his mandolin to the next AHA convention, I'll dust off my cloggin' shoes and we'll put a whoop and a holler into the conventional mix.