Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Frank A. Hoffmann

Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 79, No. 312 (Apr. - Jun., 1966), pp. 379-381
Published by: American Folklore Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/538049 .
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BOOK REVIEWS 379
discussionshave been publishedfrom tape recordingsmade at the fifteenth conference
of Scandinavianfolk life and folklore scholarsheld at Alborg, Denmark,in September
I96I and attended by fifty-five Danes, thirty-sevenSwedes, twenty-four Finns, and
twenty-twoNorwegians.Specificpapersdeal with the chronologyof folk belief, prestige
factors in Norwegian farm buildings (illustrated), the Catholic basis of certain folk
festivals, and the preparationof folklore atlases.Two articleson theory should be of
interestfor generalfolklorists:Knut Kolsrud'spaperon "CultureConceptsandResearch
Techniques"and Jouko Hautala'son "FolkloreStudy as an Area for Research."The
papers and discussions appear in Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian of the nynorsk
variety.
Finally,currentchildren'slore of Denmarkis presentedin a lively collectionfrom "the
little folk" made by a Copenhagenschoolteacher.The texts are fascinatingdocuments
from the world of thosewhom the collectorpicturesas wild and primitivesavagesamong
us, whose lore rangesfrom the poetic to the macabre.Nielsen notes foreign collections,
especiallyEnglish and American,as backgroundfor his work, but he does not cite spe-
cific parallels.His discussionsof the traditionallife of childrenand of their style as in-
formants seem popular in purpose, but are nonethelesspreceptiveand folkloristically
sound. The texts include Mirchen, numskulltales, rhymes,and a great varietyof jokes
and anecdotes;each is identifiedwith the sex and age of the informantand the place,
date and mannerof recording(longhand, child's writing, or tape). Counterpartsboth
to generalthemesand specificitems of Americanchildren'slore are numerousand often
quite unexpected;Nielsen offers only a few pages of Norwegian, Swedish, German,
English, and Americantexts (translatedfrom publications)as hints of the richpossibili-
ties for comparativestudiesof children'slore that such fine books as this will facilitate.
Illustrationsaretakenfrom Danish children'sdrawings.
Southern Illinois University JAN HAROLDBRUNVAND
Edwardsville,Illinois

Bibliographyof ProhibitedBooks. By PisanusFraxi (Henry SpencerAshbee). (Reprint

with introductoryessay by Gershon Legman [3 volumes: Index LibrorumProhibi-
torum, pp. 51 + lxxvi + 543, introductoryessay, preface, introduction,index; Cen-
turia LibrorumAbsconditorum,pp. lx + 587, preface, introduction,index; Catena
LibrorumTacendorum,pp. Ivii + 595, preface, introduction,index] New York:
Jack Brussel, I962. $35.00)
If any branchof scholarshipstandsin need of seriousbibliographicalstudy,it is that
of erotic literaturein English. Other national literatureshave yielded up their erotic
treasuresto carefuland systematiccataloguingand listing, but English languageerotica
is as little known today as it was before Ashbee took his pen in hand, nearlya century
ago.
Anyone who has had occasionto do researchin erotic literatureprobablyhas been
asked, "Why waste your time on that sort of thing?" I suspectthat more often than not
the question is asked becausethe tabus of Anglo-Americansociety requirethat such a
stance be taken-at least in public! One could as well ask why picaresqueliteratureis
studied. In both instances,the answeris-or shouldbe-obvious: they are,like all litera-
380 BOOK REVIEWS

tures, reflections (however distorted) of different facets of the societies which pro-
duced them, and to believe that a full pictureof the societieswould be gotten without
them is fatuous.
Such was the thinking of Henry SpencerAshbee, a well-to-do English businessman
and bibliophile.His wealth gave him the leisuretime to travelextensively,the funds to
collect rare and unusual books, and, perhapsmost importantfrom our point of view,
the means to publish privatelyhis extensivefile of notes on forbiddenbooks which he
himself possessedor which had passed throughthe hands of severalclose friends. This
bibliographicalurge culminatedin three thick volumes: Index LibrorumProhibitorum
(1877), CenturiaLibrorumAbsconditorum(I879), and CatenaLibrorumTacendorum
(I885).
Although he makes a point of discussingthe state of English erotic literaturein the
introductionto his firstvolume, Ashbee does not feel impelledby any chauvinisticideals
to limit his work to Englishmaterial.Yet despitethe generoussprinklingof otherWest-
ern Europeanmaterial,it still stands as the only criticallyannotatedbibliographyof
English eroticaworthyof note. In the eighty yearssince the appearanceof the thirdvol-
ume only one other compilationof any real merithas appeared:the RegistrumLibrorum
Eroticum(2 volumes, London, I936) by Rolf S. Reade (anagrammaticpseudonymfor
Alfred Rose), and this is merelya noncriticallisting.
A basic concernin reviewinga republicationsuch as this is its value in termsof cur-
rent scholarship.Certainlymuch, if not all, of Ashbee'swork has value-by virtueof its
uniqueness,if for no other reason.Fortunately,however,its value extendsbeyondthat.
Ashbee has provided extensive firsthanddocumentaryinformationon late nineteenth-
centurywriters,publishers,and dealersin erotica,much of which informationwould be
virtuallyimpossible to obtain elsewhere.To each volume he has appendeda truly re-
markableindex, divided and subdivided down to the most specific details of subject
matter.He has given bibliographicaland analyticaldata,includingextensivequotations,
from volumeswhich todayareknown only by title. An excellentcase in point is his long
list of ephemeralbawdy pocket-songstersand coal-hole companions,most of which
appearto havevanishedwithouta trace.
This is not to say that Ashbee didn't have his weaknesses-they are all too apparent:
his anticlericalism;his seeminglyhigh regardfor a greatdeal of hackwork thatpurports
to be scientific;his ambivalencein strenuouslydefendingeroticpublicationin one breath
and condemning it as poison in the next. But the readershould have no difficultyin
recognizingand evaluatingmost of thesepeccadilloesfor himself.
Mention should be made, too, of Gershon Legman'sintroductoryessay to this re-
printing. Legman,one of the most knowledgeablestudentsof erotica,is also one of the
most erratic.His essay containsmany valuableand illuminatingbits of informationre-
garding the historyof eroticpublishing from the fifteenth centuryto the presenttime.
Unfortunately,he is much given to ramblingand frequentlyinterruptsdiscussionof a
subjectmidwayto go off on an extendedtangenton a relativelyminor aspect.More ob-
jectionable,however, is his devotion of more than half his essay to a discussionof
whetheror not Ashbeewas also the authorof My SecretLife, a ratherwearisomelylong
(4,200 pages) eroticautobiographyof the late nineteenthcentury.Althoughhe cautions
us that all is supposition,he makesa great deal of what little tenuousevidenceexists-
all of it circumstantialand much of it untrustworthy.Apparently,he subscribesto the
theoryand is using this opportunityto propoundit.
BOOK REVIEWS 38i
Despite their usefulness,the fact remainsthat the last of Ashbee'svolumesappeared
eighty years ago. During that span of time little seriousresearchinto Anglo-American
erotic literaturewas carriedon; thus the gap was not particularlynoticeable or im-
portant.But now thatthe scholarlymind has turned(albeit timorously)in this direction,
a reasonablydefinitivesupplementto Ashbee'swork is greatlyneeded. Needless to say,
publishersof eroticahave not seen fit to suspendtheir operationssince 1885. The I920'S
and I930's, in particular,saw a great outpouringof eroticpublicationsin both England
and the United States.Many of these are new printingsand editionsof erotic "classics,"
but entirelyoriginal writings continueto appearas well. Yet in spite of the general re-
laxationof obscenitylaws, the materialneeded to compile such a supplementis as diffi-
cult to comeby todayas it was a centuryago. Few, if any,librarieshave anythingremotely
resemblinga definitive collection, and, apart from their scarcity,the cost of such vol-
umes puts the assemblingof a private collection out of the reach of all but the most
well-to-do.Undoubtedly,therearetodaycollectorsas wealthyas Ashbeewas, butperhaps
none as literate.
Indiana University FRANKA. HOFFMANN
Bloomington,Indiana

A Good Tale and a Bonnie Tune. Edited by Mody C. Boatright,Wilson M. Hudson,

and Allen Maxwell. (Dallas: SouthernMethodist University Press, I964. "Texas
Folklore Society Publication XXXII." Pp. vi + 274, list of contributors,index.
$4.50)
A Good Tale and a Bonnie Tune is the Texas Folklore Society offering for I964.
As usual, the TFS publicationis a hardboundjournal,and, like most serials,its sixteen
articlesareunevenin content,style, and scholarship.
A Good Tale is divided into two sections. The first grouping runs from tales and
traditionsto place names and social customs.George D. Hendrick's"Adam'sRib" is a
fascinatingpotpourriof anecdotesaboutthe origin of the fairersex. Many of the refer-
ences are from books and magazineswhich say as much aboutpopular cultureas they
say aboutfolklore. E. BagbyAtwood's "Shivareesand Charivaris"includesa discussion
of terms for the noisy celebrationfollowing a wedding and details of the celebration
in Texas and adjoiningstates.Atwood used a standardizedquestionnairesimilarto that
of the LinguisticAtlas. Best of all, the articleincludessome of the prankswhich all good
folklorists can try on their (more forgiving) friends. "SocialCustomsin O. Henry's
Texas Stories"by E. Hudson Long is a blend of folkways, local and regional customs,
and behaviorpatterns;one searchingfor folklore must be contentedwith miscellaneous
phrases,such as shooting Mexicans "to see them kick." Or, one learns about wedding
customs: "On occasion, ranch weddings might be followed by the traditionalhoney-
moon journey,as was the case in 'The PimientaPancakes'when a disappointedsuitor
suddenlylearnthat the girl he wantedhad just married'andgone to Waco and Niagara
Falls' . . ." One discoversthat a woman'sbed might be decoratedwith "pillow-shams"
or that some German settlers had brought the old countrysocial customs with them.
"Of eveningsthey sit at little tablesalong the sidewalkand drinkbeerand play pinochle
and scat."And so forth.