BiblioVault - Books by Brown, Carolyn

Chance and Circumstance

Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham

Carolyn Brown

Northwestern University Press, 2009

Carolyn Brown, one of the most renowned dancers of the last half-century, lived at the center of New York's bold and vibrant artistic community, which included not only dancers and choreographers but composers and painters as well. Brown's memoir recounts her own remarkable twenty-year tenure with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and provides a first-hand account of a pivotal period in twentieth-century art.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Brown developed close relationships with musical director John Cage and set-designer Robert Rauschenberg and with Cunningham himself. Brown's memoir reveals the personal dynamics between the reserved and moody Cunningham and the playful and ebullient Cage, as well as the controversial yet undeniably brilliant creativity that resulted when the two collaborated. Brown relates the company's rise from its cash-strapped early years when the group traveled by VW bus to perform in small venues to the 1964 world tour that left the group exhausted but finally brought them large-scale acclaim.

A unique chronicle of the avant-garde's struggle for acceptance, Brown's memoir provides a riveting first-hand account of a little-documented era in modern dance that nonetheless had a tremendous impact on the course of art in the twentieth century.

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A Pictorial History of the University of Iowa

An Expanded Edition

John C. Gerber

University of Iowa Press

The founders of the new state of Iowa in 1847 waited only fifty-nine days to charter a university. Eight years later the first classes were held in a rented building, still very much on the edge of the western frontier, surrounded by prairie and pastureland. It is difficult to imagine such a scene today compared to the University of Iowa's contemporary setting, with its 26,000 students, its 250-plus buildings, huge medical complex, performing arts campus, and athletic facilities, all clustered around the grand centerpiece of the Old Capitol. First published in 1988, this gracefully written pictorial narrative deftly compresses the history of this distinguished institution into a readable and entertaining text enriched by an impressive selection of over 350 photographs gleaned from the university's archives. Photos and text capture Iowa's major research accomplishments--in space exploration, medical research, educational testing, and the ground-breaking advanced degree programs for creative work in all the arts--as well as the many great moments in Hawkeye sports. Also included is an account of the evolution of the institution itself, of the significant teachers and administrators who guided the university's progress through world wars, periods of intense social upheaval, and the more tranquil years of strength and growth.With an all-new album of fifty color photos that both celebrate and define the last twenty years of the university's history, the expanded paperback edition of this classic book is an enduring testament to the unique character of the University of Iowa, its strong commitment to education, research, and the creative arts, and its remarkable service to the state.

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Tall Tale American Folklore Literature

Carolyn S. Brown

University of Tennessee Press, 1989

Drawing on previous research and her own original fieldwork, the author develops a definition of the tall tale as a genre of folklore, and she then explores how tall tale methods and meanings have been translated into literary humor.

The work moves from the Crockett Almanacs, sketches, newspaper hoaxes, and frontier frame tales to present new readings of such standard works as George Washington Harris’ Sut Lovingood and Mark Twain’s Autobiography.
Brown views the tall tale as a challenge and an entertainment as well as a story that identifies and binds a folk group and helps people to cope with a stressful world.

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