A presentation

by

John Donohue given at

the Tagliatela School of Business and Leadership

Albertus Magnus College

New Haven, CT

John Donohue

Novelist Anthropologist Martial Artist

www.johndonohue.net

Fiction as Applied Anthropology

(Or The Shameless Exploitation of An Academic Discipline for Personal Satisfaction)

The Two Big Questions

Why Write?

What’s It About?

The answer to both questions is related to my background as an anthropologist

Fiction

Good fiction should create a resonance with readers.

Action fiction (the American “lone gunman”) contains stories that: Celebrate the actions of the liminal individual Portray violence as an agent of disruption and

reconstitution of the social order.

Anthropology (and opportunity)Comes Knocking Anthropology excels at analyzing mythic

themes in culture My academic research:

Asian martial arts and American popular culture

ID’s structures and symbols in common with American adventure fiction.

My fiction utilizes these themes in an exercise in applied anthropology

The Concept: Martial Arts and American Myths

A yearning for secret, esoteric knowledge (ki, the force, fighting ability)

Rugged individual

who uses force

A vague, yet pervasive

spiritual element

Themes

The warrior is an individual fighting alone

With simple weapons

As a moral agent “A man’s got ta do what a man’s got ta do”

The Seven Samurai become…

…The Magnificent Seven

East Meets West 1

East Meets West 2

East Meets West 3

The Treatment

Sensei, Deshi, and Tengu use two things to hook readers: the martial arts the murder mystery

In each book The hero is an outsider (liminal) He possesses fighting skills (violent) He faces a threat that the traditional forces of order cannot

deal with (the chaos of danger) He is drawn into conflict unwillingly (moral force) He does so because of threats to those close to him (ditto). The villain is a skilled, ruthless murderer with more

resources than the hero (hokey suspense) The hero defeats the villain (regeneration through violence)

In best tradition of anthropological analysis of myth

Details change Structure and themes remain the same

The Production

Here’s the interesting thing: Reviewers take the novels at face value – a work in

the typical mystery/thriller category (boy books in the trade parlance).

They cite interesting characters, plot and action

As a writer, this is tremendously gratifying

But no one notices the underlying mythic structure

I used for the story!!

A Shock to My Mother

Anthropology is useful after all!! It exposes the power and deep structure of myth It validates my research conclusions in terms of the

structure and themes of mystery fiction It demonstrates how the academic insights of popular

culture studies can be applied to “real world” activities with successful results.

Ultimately, it points to the power of mythic elements in popular culture and the unconscious hold they have on the American imagination

“. . . The significance of objects, actions and events lies not in themselves, but in what they

mean to those who experience them.”

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

For Further Reading Bellah Robert. N., Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swindler, and Steven M. Tipton.

1985. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. New York: Harper and Row.

Donohue, John J.2006. "Cutting and Binding: Motion and Meaning in Transplanted Martial Systems." Paper presented

at the Annual Conference of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose California, November 15-19, 2006.

2004. “Writing Sword: The Martial Arts Detective Thriller and  American Culture.” Paper presented at the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Annual Conference, Buffalo, NY, Nov. 5-7 2004.

2002a. “Virtual Enlightenment: The Martial Arts, Cyberspace, and American Culture. Journal of Asian Martial Arts, vol.11, no.2:9-27

2002b. “Wave People: the Martial Arts and the American Imagination.” In David E. Jones (ed.) Combat, Ritual and Performance: Anthropology of the Martial Arts. Westport, Ct: Praeger Publishers, pp. 65-80

1994. Warrior Dreams: The Martial Arts and the American Imagination. Westport and London: Bergin and Garvey.

1992. "Dancing in the Danger Zone: The Martial Arts in America." Journal of Asian Martial Arts 1992, Vol. 1, no. 1: 86-99.

1991. The Forge of the Spirit: Structure, Motion, and Meaning in the Japanese Martial Tradition. New York: Garland Publishing.

Grady, James2000. “Fist of fantasy: Martial arts and prose fiction.” Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 9, No. 4:52-75

Slotkin,Richard. 1992. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth Century America.

New York: Atheneum.1985. The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization 1800-1890. New

York: Atheneum.