Word: dorson
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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DELVING down into a close printed jumble of old inaccessible almanacs, Richard M. Dorson '37 has selected and edited in an extremely readable way the best of the Davy Crockett stories. That fantastic legendary figure, a combination of an epic hero and a coarse, earthy frontier representation of Baron Munchausen, is more than just an early example of American humor at its broadest and most extravagant. The Crockett Almanacs, with their crazy exaggerations and crudities and all their local color, have real literary value and show the frontier spirit at its best and worst...
...illuminating introduction, Mr. Dorson makes a general discussion of "Frontier Humor and Legend." He treats with the exaggeration, verbal imagery, and other conventions of this frontier humor. Most significantly of all, he mentions the "unmistakable sameness to the varied versions of the American tall tale--It is the frontiersman's fun, his escape, his opportunity to create." The Crockett Almanacs are the true expression of the frontier; as such Mr. Dorson has done a valuable service in making this material accessible...