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The Paula Gordon Show |
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The Paula Gordon Show |
| Creating Myths | |||
You enter the darken theatre as the movie's about to end. It's the OK Corral. Two cowpokes meet, one dressed all in black, the other in white. Sun in their eyes, they're ready to shoot it out. Then, as the audience gasps, the two drop their hats. And their guns. The audience, blind to the 'pokes striking ethnic differences, is riveted by the cowboy's novel conflict resolution strategies. The audience bursts into applause, refusing to leave until they can see the movie again, unwilling to give way to the long line of people waiting to fill the theatre. Hard to fathom? Historian and novelist Richard Slotkin says that's because America is still in the grip of our Civil War! And we won't be released until we've resolved our fundamental issues of violence and race. Who does Professor Slotkin nominate as our liberator? Abraham Lincoln -- the mythological character who can still generate a barroom brawl in virtually any college or university history department. Richard Slotkin has twice been nominated for National Book Awards for his scholarly work which explores the American myth. He has used his encyclopedic knowledge of American literature and popular culture to show us new possibilities in novels as well. In his scholarship, Richard Slotkin states America's problem -- race and violence. In his novels, he goes to the mythic memory, intent on changing and renewing our myths. That's why he wrote Abe. Professor Slotkin sees America in crisis. He's not content to look back and wonder. Our old myths no longer serve us but we have yet to find the commonality of language -- myths -- which can hold us together. Hence, his novel about the young Lincoln: the man who defined what power means to an American (the power to do good and evil); the man who made the nation (as Washington fathered the country); the man who has the most heroic moment (he confronted the problem of race and did something definitive about it.) The crisis? Violence and racisms are fundamental to being American and have exhausted their value, says Professor Slotkin. Our old heroic, patriotic, coherent fable of American history failed fatally and finally in Vietnam. We're making progress on race (and gender) in America, Richard Slotkin believes, quick to add there's much more to be done. But we have a long way to go on violence. Vigilante violence -- taking the law into one's own hands -- goes hand in glove with destroying anyone who does not fit a healthy and fit European-American stereotype. As a culture, our myths still license private individuals to use deadly force. (In contrast, says Dr. Slotkin, in Europe the license for violence is just as real, but considered a social or group license.) The crisis? Violence and racisms are fundamental to being American and have exhausted their value, says Professor Slotkin. Our old heroic, patriotic, coherent fable of American history failed fatally and finally in Vietnam. We're making progress on race (and gender) in America, Richard Slotkin believes, quick to add there's much more to be done. But we have a long way to go on violence. Vigilante violence -- taking the law into one's own hands -- goes hand in glove with destroying anyone who does not fit a healthy and fit European-American stereotype. As a culture, our myths still license private individuals to use deadly force. (In contrast, says Dr. Slotkin, in Europe the license for violence is just as real, but considered a social or group license.) So it's time to create new myths, develop stories with a substitute for the role of violence in our mythic renderings of American history. The ability to use violence as the key to historical progress, growth, and success no longer works. Which takes us back to the OK Corral and all the alternative endings waiting in the wings, competing to be the final scene. Until then, the Civil War rages on, holding us all captive. [This Program was recorded March 23, 2000, in Atlanta, Georgia, US.] ................. |
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Richard Slotkin explains to Paula Gordon and Bill Russell how myths speak to the social and ideological needs of the time. Abraham Lincoln -- a very controversial figure -- is his example. Mr. Slotkin explains his quite different roles as historian and novelist.  7:23  |
The universal resonance of Abraham Lincoln's story is explored. Describing the young Abe Lincoln's world, Mr. Slotkin again compares his work as a scholar to his work as a novelist. He remembers the genesis of his novel about Lincoln. Professor Slotkin characterizes his scholarly work on the Myth of the Frontier -- characterized by race and violence -- which gives individuals license to kill. He describes how he reconceived Lincoln's life with these two ideas in mind. He offers Lincoln as an archetype for both, representing issues unresolved by the American Civil War. Professor Slotkin shows how the code of the vigilante -- taking the law into one's own hands -- comes out of racial confrontation and is mythologically sanctioned. Describing how the larger society has internalized this myth, Mr. Slotkin returns to Lincoln. 10:52  |
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Professor Slotkin offers his definition of myth. He compares the myth that emerged around Lincoln to Lincoln's very different self-perception. Dr. Slotkin explains how he used standard cliches to forward his story. He offers Custer's Last Stand as an analogy. Professor Slotkin explains what he believed was critical to show about the young Lincoln and about Lincoln's revealing position on race. Frederick Douglas enters the conversation. Professor Slotkin gives examples of Lincoln's association with slaves, describing slavery as a frontier institution in which the discipline of the plantation is the discipline of terror and violence, with attending violent resistance. A consideration of fathers and sons begins. 9:36  |
Novelist Slotkin describes how he is able to use local lore which is useless to historian Slotkin. He explains the implications of a father having had a right to all of his son's wages until the son was 21. This is compared to the experience of slavery. Dr. Slotkin describes the truth he sees in historical fiction. He recalls the Eureka experience of associating Huck Finn and Abe Lincoln. Historical context shaped the characters Mark Twain developed quite differently from Professor Slotkin's. He gives examples, again pointing to how our myths shape our perceptions of reality. Lincoln is examined as a hard case -- genuinely compassionate but with an iron fist -- with examples. Today, Professor Slotkin asserts, we have a mythic crisis, which he describes. 10:49  |
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Using George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as examples, Professor Slotkin describes his own two-pronged attempts to find new meanings in our mythic memory bank. He suggests why America needs a new national story. He gives examples of what's worn out and what might be. He describes today's cultural condition with examples, concerned that we still see violence as our primary symbol of power. He compares how differently American and European cultures condone violence. He describes his novelistic efforts to recover lost possibilities and find new ones. He expresses his belief that for a society to work, it must have commonality of language -- hence myths. 11:05  |
Novelist Slotkin describes how he picked the heroes of his other books. He explains why, out of all of American history, he sees Lincoln as the man of the moment: the man who defined what legitimate power means in America; the man who made the nation; the man who confronted the problem of race and did something definitive about it. Mr. Slotkin points to hopeful possibilities. 4:32  |
Acknowledgements Our special thanks to Caroline Dwyer and the University of Oklahoma Press, for making Professor Slotkin's outstanding trilogy available to us in record time. The books were and are extraordinarily helpful and a terrific read! |
Related Links:
Professor Slotkin's outstanding trilogy (The Gunfighter Nation, The Fatal Environment and Regeneration Through Violence,) is available in a three-volume paperback edition from the University of Oklahoma Press. Published in 2007, Susan Faludi's book The Terror Dream draws heavily on Dr. Slotkin's work on American myths. In his excellent book on George A. Custer, Last Stand, Nathaniel Philbrick graciously cites this conversation: "Richard Slotkin speaks eloquently about the inadequacy of the myth of the Last Stand in our modern age." Indeed he does. |
