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Folklore and Literature shows how modern folklore supplements an understanding of the early oral tradition and enhances the knowledge of the early literature. Besides documenting how writers incorporated folklore into their works, this book allows us to understand crucial passages whose learned authors took for granted a familiarity with the oral tradition, thus enabling us to restore those passages to their intended meaning. Studying the vicissitudes of oral transmission in great detail, this is the first book exclusively dedicated to the relationship between folklore and literature in a Luso-Brazilian context, taking into account the pan-Hispanic and other traditions as well. Some of the folkloric passages included are: Puputiriru; Celestina; El idolatra de Maria; Remando Vao Remadores; Barca Bela; Flerida; and Don Duarodos.
‘I’ve long admired Robin Robertson’s narrative gift . . . If you love stories, you will love this book.’ Val McDermid The new book from the author of The Long Take, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of both the Walter Scott Prize and the Goldsmiths Prize. Like some lost chapters from the Celtic folk tradition, Grimoire tells stories of ordinary people caught up, suddenly, in the extraordinary: tales of violence, madness and retribution, of second sight, witches, ghosts, selkies, changelings and doubles, all bound within a larger mythology, narrated by a doomed shape-changer – a man, beast or god. A grimoire is a manual for invoking spirits. Here, Robin Robertson and his b...
The Quechan are a Yuman people who have traditionally lived along the lower part of the Colorado River in California and Arizona. They are well known as warriors, artists, and traders, and they also have a rich oral tradition. The stories in this volume were told by tribal elders in the 1970s and early 1980s. The eleven narratives in this volume take place at the beginning of time and introduce the reader to a variety of traditional characters, including the infamous Coyote and also Kwayúu the giant, Old Lady Sanyuuxáv and her twin sons, and the Man Who Bothered Ants. This book makes a long-awaited contribution to the oral literature and mythology of the American Southwest, and its format ...
This is an authoritative presentation and discussion of the most basic thematic elements universally found in folklore and literature. The reference provides a detailed analysis of the most common archetypes or motifs found in the folklore of selected communities around the world. Each entry is written by a noted authority in the field, and includes accompanying reference citations. Entries are keyed to the Motif-Index of Folk Literature by Stith Thompson and grouped according to that Index's scheme. The reference also includes an introductory essay on the concepts of archetypes and motifs and the scholarship associated with them. This is the only book in English on motifs and themes that is completely folklore oriented, deals with motif numbers, and is tied to the Thompson Motif-Index. It includes in-depth examination of such motifs as: Bewitching; Chance and Fate; Choice of Roads; Death or Departure of the Gods; the Double; Ghosts and Other Revenants; the Hero Cycle; Journey to the Otherworld; Magic Invulnerability; Soothsayer; Transformation; Tricksters.
On a bright spring day in Amsterdam a man goes out to buy a packet of cigarettes. He is a dancer - charismatic, talented and physically beautiful. What happens next takes him completely by surprise and marks him for ever. He awakens to find that he has been abducted by three hooded strangers and subsequently imprisoned in a mysterious white room, which will have consequences that are both poignant and highly disturbing.
Beyond the Forest Floor: forest tales is a collection of magical forest tales. Forests are at the heart of each tale. Each captivating story contains an intriguing blend of adventure and quest with fascinating characters from both land and water settings. Some characters are at home in the forest while others must embark on a daring journey to get there. Combining elements of magic, mystical landscapes and characters, this book of forest tales presents a dynamic escape to the forest.
The past half century has seen an ever increasing interest in the folktale. Folktales remain largely unknown except to a small group of specialists. Yet the subject is of great importance to all serious students of literature, of anthropology, of psychology, and of art in general. The goal of this book is therefore (1) to present the folktale as an important art, vital to most of the race and underlying all literary narrative forms; (2) to acquaint the reader with most of the great folktales of the world, not only for their own interest as stories by also as important elements of culture; and (3) to indicate the goals of the student of the narratives and the methods by which he works.
Jason Marc Harris's ambitious book argues that the tensions between folk metaphysics and Enlightenment values produce the literary fantastic. Demonstrating that a negotiation with folklore was central to the canon of British literature, he explicates the complicated rhetoric associated with folkloric fiction. His analysis includes a wide range of writers, including James Barrie, William Carleton, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Sheridan Le Fanu, Neil Gunn, George MacDonald, William Sharp, Robert Louis Stevenson, and James Hogg. These authors, Harris suggests, used folklore to articulate profound cultural ambivalence towards issues of class, domesticity, education, gender, imperialism, nationalism, race, politics, religion, and metaphysics. Harris's analysis of the function of folk metaphysics in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century narratives reveals the ideological agendas of the appropriation of folklore and the artistic potential of superstition in both folkloric and literary contexts of the supernatural.
Reliable versions of age-old Germanic and Scandinavian myths that have helped shape Western culture. Creation of world, deeds of gods and heroes such as Odin and Thor, machinations of Loki, more.