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Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes

by Alan Dundes
edited by Simon J. Bronner

Utah State University Press, 2020
Paper: 978-1-64642-069-8 | Cloth: 978-0-87421-683-7 | eISBN: 978-0-87421-684-4
Library of Congress Classification GR71.D88 2007
Dewey Decimal Classification 398.2

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The essays of Alan Dundes virtually created the meaning of folklore as an American academic discipline. Yet many of them went quickly out of print after their initial publication in far-flung journals. Brought together for the first time in this volume compiled and edited by Simon Bronner, the selection surveys Dundes's major ideas and emphases, and is introduced by Bronner with a thorough analysis of Dundes's long career, his interpretations, and his inestimable contribution to folklore studies.

Runner-up, the Wayland Hand Award for Folklore and History, 2009

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Simon J. Bronner Is Dean of the College of General Studies and Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

REVIEWS

“A folkloric feast.”
William F. Hansen, Indiana University

“A finely composed collection of scholarly and provocative essays of the preeminent folklorist, Dundes. His analyses will continue to contribute to the theoretical debates within folklore studies and will inspire new generations of folklorists and European ethnologists.”
Peter Jan Margry, Meertens Institute, The Netherlands

“A fascinating journey revealing the hidden meaning of folklore items and genres, brilliantly analyzed with an outstanding analytical ability, breadth of knowledge, and love of subject. This volume is a must for folklorists, anthropologists and scholars of cultural studies in general.”
Haya Bar-Itzhak, University of Haifa, Israel

“A perfectly structured and presented volume of the life’s work of a truly remarkable genius of folklore studies and beyond.”
Wolfgang Mieder, The University of Vermont

“Every folklorist must read it!”
Peddarapu.Chenna Reddy, P.S.Telugu University, India

“The editorial apparatus represents the work of a professional who knows the mind and impact of Dundes as well as anyone can.”
Ronald L. Baker, Indiana State University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: The Analytics of Alan Dundes                             I
References                                                           36
Part I: Structure and Analysis
1.    Folklore as a Mirror of Culture                             53
2.    The Study of Folklore in Literature and Culture:
Identification and Interpretation                           67
3.    Metafolklore and Oral Literary Criticism                    77
4.    From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales  88
(Postscript) The Motif-Index and the Tale Type
Index: A Critique                                    101
5.    How Indic Parallels to the Ballad of the "Walled-Up Wife"
Reveal the Pitfalls of Parochial Nationalistic Folkloristics  107
6.    Structuralism and Folklore                                  123
(Postscript) Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/
L6vi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect                    145
7.    On Game Morphology: A Study of the Structure of Non-
Verbal Folklore                                            154
8.    The Devolutionary Premise in Folklore Theory               164
Part II: Worldview and Identity
9.    Folk Ideas as Units of Worldview                           179
(Postscript) Worldview in Folk Narrative                 193
10.   As the Crow Flies: A Straightforward Study of Lineal
Worldview in American Folk Speech                          196
11.   Much Ado About "Sweet Bugger All": Getting to the Bottom
of a Puzzle in British Folk Speech                         211
12.   Grouping Lore: Scientists and Musicians                    229
(A) Science in Folklore? Folklore in Science?            232
(B) Viola Jokes: A Study of Second String Humor          237
13.   Medical Speech and Professional Identity                   249
(A) The Gomer: A Figure of American Hospital Folk Speech  252
(B) "When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think Horses, Not
Zebras": A Folk Medical Diagnostic Proverb          264
Part III: Symbol and Mind
14.   Getting the Folk and the Lore Together                    273
15.   Gallus as Phallus: A Psychoanalytic Cross-Cultural
Consideration of the Cockfight as Fowl Play               285
16.   The Symbolic Equivalence of Allomotifs: Towards a Method
of Analyzing Folktales                                    319
17.   Earth-Diver: Creation of the Mythopoeic Male              327
(Postscript) Madness in Method Plus a Plea for
Projective Inversion in Myth                     343
18.   Theses on Feces: ScatologicalAnalysis                     352
(A) The Folklore of Wishing Wells                      355
(B) Here I Sit: A Study of American Latrinalia          360
(C) The Kushmaker                                      375
19.   The Ritual Murder or Blood Libel Legend: A Study of Anti-
Semitic Victimization through Projective Inversion        382
20.   On the Psychology of Collecting Folklore                  410
(Postscript) Chain Letter: A Folk Geometric Progression  422

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