| Constance Rourke | |
| Birth Name: | Constance Mayfield Rourke |
| Birth Date: | 14 November 1885 |
| Birth Place: | Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Death Place: | Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States |
| Occupation: | Writer, historian, folklorist |
| Notableworks: | American Humor |
| Awards: | Newbery Honor |
Constance Mayfield Rourke (November 14, 1885 – March 29, 1941) was an American author and educator known for shaping the fields of American studies, American literature, and American folklore.
Rourke was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Constance Davis Rourke (née Elizabeth Davis) and Henry Button Rourke. Her father died in 1888; her mother then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, becoming a school principal with progressive ideas regarding education. Mrs. Rourke placed a strong emphasis on her daughter's education from a young age. Enrolling in Vassar College in 1903, Rourke focused on social criticism. She learned "that the art of the common people might be as 'good' for humanity as recognized masterpieces, and that the critic could spur democratic reform."[1] She then studied in Europe, including at the Sorbonne, learning about education and literary criticism. On returning, she taught English at Vassar from 1910 to 1915 before turning her focus toward writing.[2]
Rourke specialized in American popular culture. She wrote numerous pieces of criticism for magazines like The Nation and The New Republic. However, she made her name as a writer of biographies and biographical sketches of notable American figures, such as John James Audubon, P. T. Barnum, Lotta Crabtree, Davy Crockett, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Charles Sheeler, as well as books exploring different components of American culture and its history, of which American Humor: A Study of the National Character, first published in 1931, is the most famous. It has never gone out of print.[3] During the 1930s she worked on the Index of American Design as part of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration.
Her work was essential in the formation of the scholarly fields of American studies and American literature. In contrast to many critics of the time, such as Van Wyck Brooks, who believed that the United States lacked its own coherent cultural arts tradition – which he noted in his influential essay "On Creating a Usable Past" – Rourke set out to search for that "usable past" and show that the country indeed had its own unique tradition.[4] [5] She wrote:
Rourke also held that American culture took influence from both Native Americans and African Americans, which had developed and maintained their own forms of culture.
She died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1941. At her death, The New York Times stated, "To her, too, the songs and sayings, the ballads, the boasts, and the brashness of farmer, lumberjack, or wandering worker were something worthy of preservation."[6]
Two of her books, Audubon and Davy Crockett, received the Newbery Honor award. She was featured on the cover of The Saturday Review of Literature. Rourke was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.[7]
Rourke's work, especially American Humor, made a significant impact on the early twentieth century study of American popular culture and folk culture. From her death onwards, selections from Rourke's works were regularly anthologized.
A biography by Joan Shelley Rubin was published in 1980.[8]
Nevertheless, Rourke's works and their apparent influence have faded significantly. Many of her books are out of print and recent anthologies, for instance of American studies, do not mention her. However, Rourke continues to have some notable fans who make significant claims for her work and importance. Perhaps the most important work in this vein is Michael Denning's book, The Cultural Front.
The American rock critic Greil Marcus wrote an introduction to a 2004 edition of American Humor.[9]
Most recently, on Rourke's birthday in 2011, Lucy Sante had these words to say: