James Still
Encyclopedia
James Still was an American poet, novelist and folklorist. He lived most of his life in a log house along the Dead Mare Branch of Little Carr Creek, Knott County, Kentucky
. He was best known for the novel River of Earth
, which depicted the struggles of coal mining
in eastern Kentucky.
destroying the family home. His father, J. Alex Still, was a horse doctor with no formal training. James Still was born July 16, 1906 near Lafayette, Alabama. Still was considered a quiet child but a hard worker. He along with his nine siblings worked the family farm. They farmed cotton, sugar cane, soybeans and corn. At the age of seven, Still began grade school. He found greater interest not in the school text books but at home where there was an edition of the Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge. He became enriched with philosophy
, physics
and the great British poets – Shakespeare and Keats.
of Harrogate, Tennessee
. He worked at the rock quarry in the afternoons and as a library janitor in the evenings. He would often sleep at the library after spending the night reading countless literature. Upon graduation in 1929, he began graduate work at Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee
. While at Vanderbilt, he became involved in a controversial miner strike in Wilder, Tennessee. The miners were starving due to holding the picket line; Still delivered a truckload of food and clothing for the miners. Still graduated with an MA in English in 1930. He later completed additional graduate work at the University of Illinois
.
salesman, and even a stint picking cotton
in Texas
. His friend Don West
—a poet and civil rights activist, among other things—offered Still a job organizing recreation programs for a Bible school in Knott County, Kentucky
. Still accepted the position but soon became a volunteer librarian at the Hindman Settlement School
. Knott County would become Still’s lifelong home, though for many years he was the creative force behind the Morehead Writers' Workshop at nearby Morehead State University
, where he taught literature during the 1960s.
James Still served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army
in World War II
and was stationed in Egypt
in 1944.
, Jethro Amburgey. He would remain here till his death. Here, he began writing his masterpiece, River of Earth. It was published February 5, 1940
. River of Earth is a discussion of change in Appalachia, depicted as the struggles of a family trying to survive by either subsisting off the land or entering the coal mines of the Cumberland Plateau
in the reaches of eastern Kentucky. This tension is depicted in the tension between Brack and Alpha Baldridge. Alpha Baldridge longs for settled solidity. “Forever I’ve wanted to set us down in a lone spot, a place certain and enduring, with room to swing arm and elbow, . . . . So many places we’ve lived—the far side of one mine camp and next the slag pile of another. I’m longing to set me down shorely and raise my chaps proper (50–51).” Conversely, her husband Brack is committed to the mines and answers her as the family provider: “It was never meant for a body to be full content on the face of this earth. Against my wont it is to be treading the camps, but its bread I’m hunting, regular bread with a mite of grease on it. To make and provide, it’s the only trade I know, and I work willing (51).” His version of stability is perhaps more transitory than hers. She longs to see things grow of a season, whether gardens or children; he looks for the high-return of mine work, despite the dangers (which are not major factors in the book) and the irregularity of the work. She willing to trade the sentence of living from hand to mouth through the year for the security of a personal place; he is willing to endure famine for the short seasons of feasting that mine work allows. The perspectives of both characters represent the dead-end choices of Appalachians who chose to remain in the hills.
Still received the Southern Author's Award shortly after publication, which he shared with Thomas Wolfe
for Wolfe's work You Can’t Go Home Again. Still went on to publish a few collections of poetry and short stories, a juvenile novel and a compilation of Appalachian local color he collected over the years. The children's book "Jack and the Wonderbeans" was adapted for the stage by the Lexington Children's Theatre in 1992. Still participated in one performance, reading a portion of the book to open the show. He died April 28, 2001 at the age of 94.
Knott County, Kentucky
Knott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1884. As of 2000, the population was 17,649. Its county seat is Hindman. The county is named for James Proctor Knott, Governor of Kentucky . It is a prohibition or dry county. Notable inhabitants include U.S....
. He was best known for the novel River of Earth
River of Earth
River of Earth is a novel, published in 1940, by Appalachian author James Still.-Plot synopsis:The book focuses on three years in the life of an Appalachian family as told from the viewpoint of a young boy...
, which depicted the struggles of coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
in eastern Kentucky.
Early life
Lonie, Still’s mother was sixteen when she moved to Alabama due to a tornadoTornado Alley
Tornado Alley is a colloquial and popular media term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the area between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains is usually associated with it.The areas...
destroying the family home. His father, J. Alex Still, was a horse doctor with no formal training. James Still was born July 16, 1906 near Lafayette, Alabama. Still was considered a quiet child but a hard worker. He along with his nine siblings worked the family farm. They farmed cotton, sugar cane, soybeans and corn. At the age of seven, Still began grade school. He found greater interest not in the school text books but at home where there was an edition of the Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge. He became enriched with philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and the great British poets – Shakespeare and Keats.
Education
After graduating from high school, Still attended Lincoln Memorial UniversityLincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University is a private four-year co-educational liberal arts college located in Harrogate, Tennessee.LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park....
of Harrogate, Tennessee
Harrogate, Tennessee
Harrogate is a city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 19th century, but did not incorporate as a city by that name until 1993....
. He worked at the rock quarry in the afternoons and as a library janitor in the evenings. He would often sleep at the library after spending the night reading countless literature. Upon graduation in 1929, he began graduate work at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. While at Vanderbilt, he became involved in a controversial miner strike in Wilder, Tennessee. The miners were starving due to holding the picket line; Still delivered a truckload of food and clothing for the miners. Still graduated with an MA in English in 1930. He later completed additional graduate work at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
.
Career
Still tried various professions including the Civil Service Corps, BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
salesman, and even a stint picking cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. His friend Don West
Don West (educator)
Don West was an American writer, poet, educator, trade union organizer, civil-rights activist and a co-founder of the Highlander Folk School.-Early life and career:...
—a poet and civil rights activist, among other things—offered Still a job organizing recreation programs for a Bible school in Knott County, Kentucky
Knott County, Kentucky
Knott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1884. As of 2000, the population was 17,649. Its county seat is Hindman. The county is named for James Proctor Knott, Governor of Kentucky . It is a prohibition or dry county. Notable inhabitants include U.S....
. Still accepted the position but soon became a volunteer librarian at the Hindman Settlement School
Hindman Settlement School
Hindman Settlement School is a settlement school located in Hindman, Kentucky in Knott County. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America.-Mission:...
. Knott County would become Still’s lifelong home, though for many years he was the creative force behind the Morehead Writers' Workshop at nearby Morehead State University
Morehead State University
Morehead State University is a public, co-educational university located in Morehead, Kentucky, United States in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S...
, where he taught literature during the 1960s.
James Still served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was stationed in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1944.
Literature
Still moved into a two-story log house once occupied by a crafter of dulcimersAppalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
, Jethro Amburgey. He would remain here till his death. Here, he began writing his masterpiece, River of Earth. It was published February 5, 1940
1940 in literature
The year 1940 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Aldous Huxley is a screenwriter for the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.*Jean-Paul Sartre is taken prisoner by the Germans....
. River of Earth is a discussion of change in Appalachia, depicted as the struggles of a family trying to survive by either subsisting off the land or entering the coal mines of the Cumberland Plateau
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...
in the reaches of eastern Kentucky. This tension is depicted in the tension between Brack and Alpha Baldridge. Alpha Baldridge longs for settled solidity. “Forever I’ve wanted to set us down in a lone spot, a place certain and enduring, with room to swing arm and elbow, . . . . So many places we’ve lived—the far side of one mine camp and next the slag pile of another. I’m longing to set me down shorely and raise my chaps proper (50–51).” Conversely, her husband Brack is committed to the mines and answers her as the family provider: “It was never meant for a body to be full content on the face of this earth. Against my wont it is to be treading the camps, but its bread I’m hunting, regular bread with a mite of grease on it. To make and provide, it’s the only trade I know, and I work willing (51).” His version of stability is perhaps more transitory than hers. She longs to see things grow of a season, whether gardens or children; he looks for the high-return of mine work, despite the dangers (which are not major factors in the book) and the irregularity of the work. She willing to trade the sentence of living from hand to mouth through the year for the security of a personal place; he is willing to endure famine for the short seasons of feasting that mine work allows. The perspectives of both characters represent the dead-end choices of Appalachians who chose to remain in the hills.
Still received the Southern Author's Award shortly after publication, which he shared with Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
for Wolfe's work You Can’t Go Home Again. Still went on to publish a few collections of poetry and short stories, a juvenile novel and a compilation of Appalachian local color he collected over the years. The children's book "Jack and the Wonderbeans" was adapted for the stage by the Lexington Children's Theatre in 1992. Still participated in one performance, reading a portion of the book to open the show. He died April 28, 2001 at the age of 94.
Further reading
- Appalachian Heritage, Fall 2010 issue, in which Still is the featured author; a number of articles discuss his life and work, and previously unpublished prose and poetry by Still is presented.
- Crum, Claude Lafie. (2007). River of Words: James Still's Literary Legacy. Wind Publications.
- Olson, Ted, and Kathy H. Olson, eds. (2007). James Still: Critical Essays on the Dean of Appalachian Literature (ISBN 0-7864-3076-1).
- Olson, Ted, ed. (2009). James Still in Interviews, Oral Histories and Memoirs. (ISBN 978-0-7864-3698-9).
External links
- James Still Portal
- James Still Fellowship
- A Guide to the James Still Papers at the University of Kentucky.
- A Guide to the James Still Photograph Collection at the University of Kentucky.