Carl Carmer
Encyclopedia
Carl Lamson Carmer was an author of nonfiction books, memoirs, and novels, many of which focused on Americana
such as myths
, folklore
, and tales. His most famous book, Stars Fell on Alabama, was an autobiographical story of the time he spent living in Alabama
. He was considered one of America's most popular writers during the 1940s and 1950s.
. His father, Willis Griswold Carmer, was the principal of Dansville High School. His mother, Mary Lamson Carmer, grew up on a farm in Dryden, New York
.
When he was five his father became principal of Albion High School in Albion, New York
, which is in the western part of the state. He graduated from Albion High School in 1910 and entered his father's alma mater, Hamilton College, where he earned his undergraduate degree. He subsequently received a Masters degree from Harvard.
He taught briefly at Syracuse University
before accepting a position at the University of Alabama
in 1927. After six years in Alabama, he returned to New York and married artist Elizabeth Black. He also became an assistant editor at Vanity Fair
. In his later years, Carmer would work as a folklore
consultant for Walt Disney Productions and produce a folklore radio series called "Your Neck o' the Woods." He also produced four albums of regional songs. He died on September 11, 1976.
, one of his new colleagues warned him, "...if I knew you well enough to advise you, I'd say, 'For God's sake, get out of here before it's too late.'" This reference was evidently about the state of Alabama's racial relations at the time. Carmer, however, stayed at the University for six years, taking notes and writing what would become his most famous book, Stars Fell on Alabama
.
In the book, Carmer recounted the time he spent traveling throughout the state. He wrote about the people, places, and events he witnessed, such as a Ku Klux Klan
rally and interactions with ordinary Alabama men and women.
One example of the book's prose was this description of a Sacred Harp
singing:
Carmer also wrote about the myths, legends, and local superstitions of what he called "Conjure Country" (which was his nickname for southeast Alabama).
First published in 1934, Stars Fell on Alabama hit the bestseller lists and established Carmer's reputation. Literary critic R. L. Duffus of The New York Times
praised the book and said Carmer had a gift for "extracting from what he sees, hears and feels an essence which is fundamentally poetic." The book has been subsequently republished a number of times, most recently in 2000 with a new introduction by Howell Raines
.
The title of the book referred to a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower
that was observed in Alabama on November 12–13, 1833. As reported by the Florence
Gazette: "[There were] thousands of luminous bodies shooting across the firmament in every direction. There was little wind and not a trace of clouds, and the meteors succeeded each other in quick succession."
Sections of Carmer's book were adapted by Brad Vice
in his short story
"The Bear Bryant Funeral Train." His failure to acknowledge his debt to Carmer led the organizers of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
to revoke the prize he was given in 2004.
hoax, and wrote a new book, Listen for a Lonesome Drum. He followed this up with a sequel in 1949, Dark Trees to the Wind.
In 1939 Carmer wrote a well-received volume in the Rivers of America Series
, The Hudson River. In 1942 he became the Editor for the Rivers of America Series
, edited The Songs of the Rivers of America (1942) and wrote The Susquehanna (1955). In all, Carmer wrote 37 books. He was considered one of America's most popular writers during the 1940s and 1950s.
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
such as myths
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, and tales. His most famous book, Stars Fell on Alabama, was an autobiographical story of the time he spent living in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. He was considered one of America's most popular writers during the 1940s and 1950s.
Carmer's life
Carmer was born in Cortland, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. His father, Willis Griswold Carmer, was the principal of Dansville High School. His mother, Mary Lamson Carmer, grew up on a farm in Dryden, New York
Dryden, New York
Dryden, New York can refer to:* Dryden , New York* Dryden , New York...
.
When he was five his father became principal of Albion High School in Albion, New York
Albion, New York
Albion may refer to the following places in the U.S. state of New York:* Albion , Orleans County, New York* Albion , Orleans County, New York* Albion, Oswego County, New York, a town...
, which is in the western part of the state. He graduated from Albion High School in 1910 and entered his father's alma mater, Hamilton College, where he earned his undergraduate degree. He subsequently received a Masters degree from Harvard.
He taught briefly at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
before accepting a position at the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
in 1927. After six years in Alabama, he returned to New York and married artist Elizabeth Black. He also became an assistant editor at Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. In his later years, Carmer would work as a folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
consultant for Walt Disney Productions and produce a folklore radio series called "Your Neck o' the Woods." He also produced four albums of regional songs. He died on September 11, 1976.
Stars Fell on Alabama
When Carmer arrived in Tuscaloosa, AlabamaTuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
, one of his new colleagues warned him, "...if I knew you well enough to advise you, I'd say, 'For God's sake, get out of here before it's too late.'" This reference was evidently about the state of Alabama's racial relations at the time. Carmer, however, stayed at the University for six years, taking notes and writing what would become his most famous book, Stars Fell on Alabama
Stars Fell on Alabama
"Stars Fell on Alabama" is the title of a 1934 jazz standard composed by Frank Perkins with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.- History :One of the earliest recordings was by the Guy Lombardo orchestra, with his brother Carmen doing a vocal. This version was recorded on August 27, 1934, and issued by Decca...
.
In the book, Carmer recounted the time he spent traveling throughout the state. He wrote about the people, places, and events he witnessed, such as a Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
rally and interactions with ordinary Alabama men and women.
One example of the book's prose was this description of a Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
singing:
The church was full now. People stood along the walls and the doorway was packed. Crowds were huddled outside each window singing lustily...there were surely more than two thousand people...Hard blows of sound beat upon the walls and rafters with inexorable regularity. All in a moment the constant beat took hold. There was a swift crescendo. Muscles were tensing, eyes brightening.
Carmer also wrote about the myths, legends, and local superstitions of what he called "Conjure Country" (which was his nickname for southeast Alabama).
First published in 1934, Stars Fell on Alabama hit the bestseller lists and established Carmer's reputation. Literary critic R. L. Duffus of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised the book and said Carmer had a gift for "extracting from what he sees, hears and feels an essence which is fundamentally poetic." The book has been subsequently republished a number of times, most recently in 2000 with a new introduction by Howell Raines
Howell Raines
Howell Hiram Raines was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. He is the father of Jeff Raines, one of the founding members of the rock band Galactic...
.
The title of the book referred to a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower
Leonids
The Leonids is a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate from that point in the sky. They tend to peak in November.Earth moves through the meteoroid...
that was observed in Alabama on November 12–13, 1833. As reported by the Florence
Florence, Alabama
Florence is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....
Gazette: "[There were] thousands of luminous bodies shooting across the firmament in every direction. There was little wind and not a trace of clouds, and the meteors succeeded each other in quick succession."
Sections of Carmer's book were adapted by Brad Vice
Brad Vice
Brad Vice is a fiction writer whose short story collection, The Bear Bryant Funeral Train, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction from the University of Georgia Press...
in his short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
"The Bear Bryant Funeral Train." His failure to acknowledge his debt to Carmer led the organizers of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction is an annual prize awarded by the University of Georgia Press named in honor of the American short story writer and novelist Flannery O'Connor....
to revoke the prize he was given in 2004.
Other writings and projects
After the success of Stars Fell on Alabama, Carmer returned to the upstate New York region he had grown up in. He documented the myths and stories of the region, including the Cardiff GiantCardiff Giant
The Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history. It was a tall purported "petrified man" uncovered on October 16, 1869 by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York. Both it and an unauthorized copy made by P.T...
hoax, and wrote a new book, Listen for a Lonesome Drum. He followed this up with a sequel in 1949, Dark Trees to the Wind.
In 1939 Carmer wrote a well-received volume in the Rivers of America Series
Rivers of America Series
The Rivers of America Series is a landmark series of books on American rivers, for the most part written by literary figures rather than historians. The series spanned three publishers and thirty-seven years.- History :...
, The Hudson River. In 1942 he became the Editor for the Rivers of America Series
Rivers of America Series
The Rivers of America Series is a landmark series of books on American rivers, for the most part written by literary figures rather than historians. The series spanned three publishers and thirty-seven years.- History :...
, edited The Songs of the Rivers of America (1942) and wrote The Susquehanna (1955). In all, Carmer wrote 37 books. He was considered one of America's most popular writers during the 1940s and 1950s.
Selected bibliography
- French Town (New Orleans, Quarter's Book Shop, about 1928)
- Stars Fell on Alabama (New York, Doubleday, 1934, reissued several times)
- Listen for a Lonesome Drum (New York, William Sloane Associates, 1936, reissued in 1950)
- The Hudson (New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1939)
- Genesee Fever (New York, Farrar, 1941, novel)
- America Sings editor (New York, Knopf, 1942)
- The Jesse James of the Java Sea (New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1945)
- Dark Trees to the Wind (New York, William Sloane Associates, 1949)
- Hurricane Luck (New York, Aladdin, 1949, juvenile book)
- The Susquehanna (New York, Rinehart & Company, 1955)
- The Tavern Lamps Are Burning (New York, David McKay Company, 1964)
- The Farm Boy and the Angel: The Mormon Vision and the Winning of the West (New York, Doubleday, 1970)