*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.