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Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas
Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill

Jessica M. Floyd (Author)

9781496853127

Hardback, published 16 September 2024

277 pages, 32 b&w illustrations
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.542 kg

Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill is an exciting and provocative, and yet refreshingly nostalgic, book. - Jonathan A. Allan, author of Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus

During his correspondence with erotic folklore collector Gershon Legman, famed chantey singer and collector Stan Hugill (1906–1992) shared unexpurgated versions of the songs in his repertoire. These bawdy songs were meant to be a part of Legman’s larger project concerning erotic folksong. Upon Legman’s death in 1999, the unfinished and unpublished manuscript sank into obscurity and was believed by many to be permanently lost. Thankfully this ""holy grail"" of chantey texts had been safe in the private collection of Legman’s widow, Judith Legman, all along. Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill is the first critical investigation of this repository, reproduced here for the first time.

Training an interdisciplinary lens on twenty-four unexpurgated texts, author Jessica M. Floyd interrogates the articulation of gender, sexuality, and identity as it is expressed in these cultural artifacts of the sea. Opening with both a critical explication of the chantey genre, as well as situating Hugill’s repertoire in the canon of folksong, the book introduces readers to the critical realities that attend this rich cultural tradition. Analytical chapters demonstrate the kaleidoscopic representation of gender and sexuality in this finite repertoire. Each inquiry is connected and overlapping, demonstrating an ebb and flow not unlike the waters on which the songs were sung. Words of warning, heteronormative economies, and queer undercurrents each collide to present an image of sailing life that is nuanced and complicated, provocative and evocative, transgressive and sometimes radical. The volume allows scholars to place a finger on the pulse of maritime life, feeling and experiencing one voice among the din of working-class song traditions.

  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Chapter 1. Chanteys: The Sailor’
    s Work Song among His Brothers
  • Chapter 2. Hugill’
    s Repertoire and Training an Interdisciplinary Lens on Expressions of Gender and Sexuality
  • Chapter 3. Words of Warning and the Ebb and Flow of Identity
  • Chapter 4. Heteronormative Economies and Shadow Admissions
  • Chapter 5. Looking Queerly and the Pleasures That Defy Category
  • Conclusion. "What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor" and His Comrades?
  • Appendix: Chantey Lyrics
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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