Vance Randolph (1892–1980)
Author of Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales
About the Author
Noted folklorist Vance Randolph was born in Pittsburg, Kansas. After attending college at Kansas State Teachers College, Clark University, and the University of Kansas, he worked as a staff writer for Appeal to Reason, as an assistant instructor in psychology at the University of Kansas, and as a show more scenario writer for MGM studios in California before devoting all of his time to freelance writing. Randolph is perhaps one of America's most prolific collectors of folk tales, and he is especially renowned for his study of the Ozarks and that region's ribald folk literature. Because of their bawdy nature, many collectors and compilers have passed over such tales from this region, but Randolph compiled many of them in a work entitled Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folk Tales (1976). His regional specialization has led to a number of other works, including The Ozarks: An American Survival of Primitive Society (1931), From an Ozark Mountain Holler: Stories of Ozark Mountain Folk (1933), Ozark Superstitions (1947), and Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folk Tales (1958). Regarding his work on the Ozarks, critics have said that Randolph "gives a sensitive portrayal of a fast-vanishing breed of people . . . [and] insight to a way of life that is rapidly passing" (Choice). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Vance Randolph (cropped) from photo held at Library of Congress.
Series
Works by Vance Randolph
How To know The Spiders 3 copies
Modern philosophers 2 copies
Ozark Folksongs (4 Volume Set) 2 copies
Physiology self taught 2 copies
The Bald Knobbers 2 copies
Funny Stories from Arkansas 1 copy
An Ozark Anthology 1 copy
Tall Tales from the Ozarks 1 copy
The Camp-Meeting Murders 1 copy
Our insect enemies 1 copy
Beekeeping for profit 1 copy
Ozark Mountain Folks 1 copy
Associated Works
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction November 1952, Vol. 3, No. 7 (1952) — Contributor — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1892-02-23
- Date of death
- 1980-11-01
- Burial location
- Fayetteville National Cemetery, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Pittsburg, Kansas, USA
- Place of death
- Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
- Places of residence
- Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Pineville, Missouri, USA
Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA - Education
- Pittsburg State University
Clark University - Occupations
- folklorist
- Organizations
- American Folklore Society
- Awards and honors
- Fellow, American Folklore Society
Members
Reviews
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 53
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 819
- Popularity
- #31,142
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 8
- ISBNs
- 37
- Favorited
- 1
It's all dressed up with serious introductions, footnotes, and references, but at its heart (and elsewhere), it's a collection of naughty tales about traveling salesmen, farmers' daughters, dim-witted farm boys, libertine preachers, sexually frustrated widows, brothels, barrooms, and bedrooms, and the misadventures that occur therein. Some of the stories may be familiar -- in fact, my dad's favorite blue joke is in there -- and the afterwords following most of the tales trace them back in time, some as far as the middle ages.
Indeed, the ultimate moral may be that there's no such thing as a new dirty joke, so if you're in the mood for a retelling of some blue classics, this is an amusing way to spend an evening.… (more)