Place and Transformal Meaning in Nineteenth-Century Sea Songs
1990; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.7202/1081672ar
ISSN1708-0401
Autores Tópico(s)Travel Writing and Literature
ResumoMany places in the seafarer's world are steeped in cultural and occupational meaning, and in song they become symbols of group affiliations, expériences, and concerns.The significance of these places, however, rarely surfaces from a straight reading of texts, for spatial imagery in nautical folksong lacks the detailed development necessary to make the total environment or scene immediately apparent, especially to outsiders.A text simply refers to a location-a town, a sea, a bay, a headland, a deck, the fo'c'sle, aloft, or below-or it may only imply setting through activity.But as Anna Caraveli shows, the interprétation of folksong imagery dépends heavily on the audience's familiarity with culturally assumed knowledge that is brought to bear in the évaluation of a text.She writes:Meaning is created... in an open-ended process of continuons interaction between the song and the world outside it....This interaction, far from being only aesthetic, is rooted in a common fund of knowledge and shared assumptions drawn upon by both performer and audience, by active and passive participants alike.1 2 Given Caraveli's emphasis on "the song beyond the song," one realizes that the aesthetic function of spatial signifiers in nautical folksongs is linked to an empathetic appréciation of the mariner's environment, an appréciation that sees places not simply as points on a map or parts of a ship, but also in terms of the activities, expériences, values, and beliefs associated with them.Drawing on texts from Canadian, American, and British collec tions of sea ballads, songs, and shanties, the présent paper explores the
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