The Perilous Quest: Baseball as Folk Drama

Abstract

Young children recognize no distinction between art and play. Painting picture or playing house are play activities equally as much as hopscotch and hide-and-seek, even though former lead to creation of painting or acting out of drama and latter have no connection with what we normally refer to as arts. Appropriately enough, both types of behavior largely fit Johan Huizinga's well-known definition of play as a voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by feeling of tension, joy and consciousness that it is 'different' from 'ordinary life.' 1 Huizinga arrived at his definition apparently on basis of observ4tions of number of more or less familiar games and other forms of play. From these he was able to deduce relatively limited set of characteristics that must combine in order to create play situation. Armed with his definition, he then revealed more systematically than had been done before centrality of play element in great range and variety of cultural activities-wherever certain characteristic features came together, there was play. From point of view of present essay, Huizinga's approach is important because it confirms that happenings at first sight so different-dodge ball and opera, play with dolls or conduct of military maneuvers-possess hidden common features. At same time it suggests that not only do those activities which we solemnly refer to as the creative arts derive from impulses similar to those present in chil-