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*20 / "THE LEGEND OF BLACK MOUNTAIN" / THE LEGEND OF BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE HAS GROWN IN /GLAMOUR AND STATURE SINCE 1956 WHEN, AFTER 23 HAZARDOUS /YEARS, IT CLOSED ITS DOORS AND DISBANDED. BORN IN /CONTROVERSY AND SEQUESTERED FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD, THIS / "LETHAL LITTLE COMMUNITY," AS FIELDING DAWSON CALLED IT, /JUMPED ITS GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS TO BECOME PROMINENT /THROUGHOUT AMERICA FOR ARTISTIC INNOVATION AND FLAMBOYANT /LIFE STYLE. BLACK MOUNTAIN ATTRACTED A CONGREGATION OF /UNCOMMON TALENTS AND IT FOSTERED DAZZLING EVENTS, LIKE /JOHN CAGE^S FIRST EVENING OF MIXED MEDIA THEATER; IT GAVE /ITS NAME TO A GROUP OF POETS, THOUGH MANY OF THEM HAD NO /CONNECTION WITH THE SCHOOL; AND IT PUBLISHED THE BLACK /MOUNTAIN REVIEW WHOSE IMPACT ON THE LITERARY SCENE HAS /BEEN ALMOST SCRIPTURAL. / SO POWERFUL IS THE MYSTIQUE OF THIS TINY NORTH CAROLINA /SCHOOL NEAR ASHEVILLE THAT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE /CLAIMED THEY VISITED AND BREATHED IN ITS MAGICAL ATMO- /SPHERE. AND NO WONDER. FOR THE ROSTER OF POETS, PAINTERS, /COMPOSERS, AND CHOREOGRAPHERS WHO LIVED, TAUGHT AND /STUDIED OR ONLY PERFORMED AT BLACK MOUNTAIN READS LIKE A /WHO^S WHO OF AVANT-GARDE ACCOMPLISHEMENT. / THIS ILLUSTRIOUS CHAPTER IN THE ARTS IS ONLY PART OF /THE STORY OF BLACK MOUNTAIN. YET FACTS ABOUT ITS PURPOSES /AND ATMOSPHERE AND PERSONALITIES HAVE BEEN HARD TO COME /BY. EVERYBODY, IT SEEMS, CARRIES AROUND HIS OWN VERSION /OF BLACK MOUNTAIN IN HIS HEAD. A FEW PEOPLE HAVE STEPPED /FORWARD TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE SCHOOL^S REMARKABLE OR /BALEFUL INFLUENCE. BUT NOBODY CAN STAY LUKEWARM ABOUT IT, /INCLUDING MARTIN DUBERMAN, WHO HAS WRITTEN A LONG, /THOROUGH AND TENDENTIOUS STUDY OF ITS HISTORY. / AS EARLY AS 1839 EMERSON COMPLAINED, "WE ARE SHUT UP /IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGE RECITATION ROOMS FOR TEN OR /FIFTEEN YEARS AND COME OUT AT LAST WITH A BELLYFUL OF /WORDS AND DO NOT KNOW A THING." IT WAS TO AVOID SUCH /REGIMENTED LEARNING THAT JOHN ANDREW RICE AND A SMALL /GROUP OF DISSIDENT STUDENTS AND FACULTY FROM ROLLINS /COLLEGE IN FLORIDA FOUNDED BLACK MOUNTAIN 1933. RICE, A /CHARMING CYNIC, WAS ONE OF THOSE MAVERICK PROFESSORS /WHOSE CAUSTIC WIT DELIGHTS AND TERRIFIES STUDENTS BUT /ONLY ANNOYS ADMINISTRATORS. AS THE COMMANDING FIGURE OF /THE FIRST FIVE YEARS, HE PIONEERED WITH A "CAUTIOUS /DARING," INSTALLINGNOT AN EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY BUT /A SPIRIT OF IMPROVISATION. / BECAUSE THE COMMUNITY WAS SMALL AND INTIMATE, IT COULD /AVOID UNWIELDY BUREAUCRATIC PROCEDURES. BLACK MOUNTAIN /LOATHED SYSTEMS AND RULES, THE TYRANNY OF VIRTUOUS /ROUTINE. KEEP STRUCTURES TO A MINIMUM, RICE ARGUED, LEAVE /ROOM FOR THE UNPLANNED AND THE SPONTANEOUS, AND EACH /STUDENT WILL DISCOVER HIS OWN POWERS OF SELF-REGULATION. /IF ANY FUNDAMENTALIST CREED EXISTED, IT WAS THE FOLLY OF /CONFINING LEARNING TO THE CLASSROOM. BLACK MOUNTAIN WAS /"OPEN ON ALL SIDES," AS FIELDING DAWSON PUT IT IN /HIS "BLACK MOUNTAIN BOOK." / FROM ITS INCEPTION BLACK MOUNTAIN TEETERED ON THE EDGE /OF FINANCIAL DISASTER, SURVIVING BY WINDFALL DONATIONS /AND EXERTIONS OF THE COLLECTIVE WILL: THE CHARACTER /RICE BELIEVED GOOD TEACHING BUILT. IT WAS NEVER /ACCREDITED BECAUSE ITS LIBRARY AND SCIENCE FACILITIES /WERE POOR AND IT SCARCELY PAID THE FACULTY ANY SALARY. /DURING ITS LAST FIVE YEARS THE PYSICAL PLANT HAD BECOME /SO DILAPIDATED AND INCOME SO MEAGER THAT PRIVATIONS WERE /AS GRIM AS IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT. / YET DESPITE SCHISMS, VIOLENT CHANGES AND POVERTY, A /RARE JEU D^ESPRIT REIGNED. THE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCED MANY /OF THE PLEASURABLE INTIMACIES - AND ORDEALS AND TENSIONS / - OF FAMILY LIFE: LOVE, JOYOUS AND "PEACEFUL /CONTINUITIES," SHIFTING RIVALRIES, NASTY POWER STRUGGLES /AND JOSTLING FOR EMOTIONAL SPACE. / WHY HAS BLACK MOUNTAIN NOT FADED AWAY LIKE OTHER NOBLE /FIASCOES? AFTER ALL, IT DRIFTED FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS; IT /COULD BE FOOLISHLY HOSTILE TO RATIONAL THOUGHT AND THE /HISTORY OF IDEAS; AND IT ONLY INTERMITTENTLY LIVED UP TO /ITS EGALITARIAN IDEALS. THE ANSWER, I THINK, IS THAT IT /SATISFIED A HUNGER FOR A LARGE VISION, IT DID NOT DESTORY /BUT NURTURED THE "WONDERSELF." BLACK MOUNTAIN DID NOT /RESORT TO THE CHEAP RHETORIC OF INNOVATION OR TO UTOPIAN /SLOGANEERING. INSTEAD, IT CREATED AN ENVIRONMENT THAT, /IN OFFERINGA RANGE OF MODELS OF BEHAVIOR AND MASTERY, /SET THE STUDENT FREE TO ORGANIZE HIS EXPERIENECE WITH /IMAGINATION FOR THE "BENIFICENCE OF POWER." / DUBERMAN^S BOOK "BLACK MOUNTAIN" DOES NOT EXPLOIT ITS /RICH MATERIALS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR INTERPRETATION AND /COMPARISON. THE WRITING IS SO ACADEMIC AND LACKING IN /VERVE THAT ONE MUST RUEFULLY WAIT FOR THE BLACK MOUNTAIN /ARTISTS TO WRITE ITS INTERIOR HISTORY. DUBERMAN MIGHT /WELL HAVE HEEDED THE WARNING THAT CLEAR THINKING IS NOT /THE ENEMY OF GENUINE FEELING.