The Wolfpen Notebooks: A Record of Appalachian Life

by James Still (Brand)

After keeping school for six years at the forks of Troublesome Creek in the Kentucky hills, James Still moved to a century-old log house between the waters of Wolfpen Creek and Dead Mare Branch, on Little Carr Creek, and became "the man in the bushes" to his curious neighbors. Still joined the life of the scattered community. He raised his own food, preserved fruits and vegetables for the winter, and kept two stands of bees for honey. A neighbor remarked of Still, "He's left a good job, and come over in here and sot down."

Still did sit down and write -- the classic novel River of Earth and many poems and short stories that have found their way into national publications. From the beginning, Still jotted down expressions, customs, and happenings unique to the region. After half a century those jottings filled twenty-one notebooks. Now they have been brought together in The Wolfpen Notebooks, together with an interview with Still, a glossary, a comprehensive bibliography of his work by William Terrell Cornett, and examples of Still's use of the "sayings" in poetry and prose. The "sayings" represent an aspect of the Appalachian experience not previously recorded and of a time largely past.

James Still's fiction has won numerous awards, including the Marjorie Peabody Waite Award and the O. Henry Memorial Prize.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Unknown Binding

First published July 9, 1991

About the author

For the American playwright, see James Still.

James Still (July 16, 1906 – April 28, 2001) was an Appalachian 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.

Still’s mother was sixteen when she moved to Alabama due to a tornado destroying the family home. His father was a horse doctor with no formal training. James Still was born July 16, 1906 near Lafayette, Chambers County, 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.

After graduating from high school, Still attended Lincoln Memorial University 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. In 1929, he graduated from Lincoln and headed over to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. While there, 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. After a year at Vanderbilt, he transferred to the University of Illinois and earned a graduate degree.

Still tried various professions including the Civil Service Corps, Bible salesman and even had a stint picking cotton in Texas. His friend Don West – a poet, 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.

James Still served as a Sergeant in the US Army in WWII and was stationed in Egypt in 1944.

Still moved into a two-story log house once occupied by a fine crafter of dulcimers, 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 depicts 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. Still depicts the Appalachian mining culture with ease. Mines close often and the family is forced to move and find other means to survive. Still received the Southern Author's Award shortly after publication which he shared with Thomas Wolfe for his 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.

Reviews

[Daniel Greear · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Still (1906-2001) was an American novelist and folklorist originally from Alabama, and was a graduate of Lincoln Memorial University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Illinois. He’s most remembered for his novel Rivers of Earth.

Still moved to Wolfpen Creek, Kentucky in the 1940s and lived in a rudimentary long cabin that was given to him by a local upon his passing. Still would remain in this cabin until his passing in 2001. The Wolfpen Notebooks is the published version of the notebooks he kept while living there. Much of the book is filled with phrases. Additionally, there’s a segment on how the book was constructed, an interview with James Still, and a few stories and tall tales. The end of the book also has a helpful glossary of Appalachian slang.

The book was put together by high school students and published by the University of Kentucky Press. It’s an important piece of Appalachian culture that would have been forever lost without the efforts of the above. The characters in this book are obscure and minuscule, but interesting and remarkable. Had it not been for Still’s note-taking, these figures would be lost to time forever.

What this book isn’t is a full collection of stories. Rather, it’s a hodgepodge of this and that. I thought it would be more of the former and instead it’s the latter. I think that would be why I would give it a 3/5.

However, this book is meaningful to me as I am an Appalachian-American and from Southwest Virginia, which neighbors the area this takes place. I first came across this while reading Lee Smith’s memoir, and I’ve been meaning to read it ever since.

I found the interview with James Still the most interesting section, especially how he labeled himself as a storyteller and not a writer. That is an important distinction. Also, his recollection in regards to his time at LMU and the library there were relatable, as I spent many long hours myself at ETSU’s library back in my college days.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought back memories of home

I was raised on Carr Creek until I was 12 and have family still living close by. Love that place and it will always be a part of me. So many of these phrases are still part of my vocabulary.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. The author tells of many local people and areas. He says a lot of quotes from local people and gives you a good idea of growing up in the Appalachia.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and interesting tidbits of Appalachian lore and language from a man of letters that chose to live his life in the isolated beauty on the banks of Troublesome Creek.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating!
A few awkward parts, but hey! That’s honesty for you!
Good book!

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wolfpen Notebooks are, without a doubt, required reading for anyone interested in Appalachian history and culture or those who just like local color. Being a collection of scrawls from Still's notepads as he listened to community members speak, this is an incredible collection of local color statements that, in the same way as E.M. Robert's The Time of Man, seals Appalachian culture and the people contained within in a veritable time capsule.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interview of the author, James Still, longtime resident, author and chronicler of Appalachian life. One short story and many, many sayings from the hill folk. Great observer of people and culture. Absorbing. 4.5 stars

[Dustincecil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interview portion was nice! But I wish there was little more context with the notes themselves.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wolfpen Notebooks: A Record of Appalachian Life by James Still (University Press of Kentucky 1991) (818.52). Author James Still kept a record in “notebooks” for fifty years of what he observed and witnessed around him near his Appalachian home. He distilled those notebooks into this volume. This is “Foxfire lite” written twenty-something years after the original series. Try the Foxfire series instead if you find the premise appealing. My rating: 6/10, finished 4/5/17.