Folklore Summary

Folklore FOLKLORE. Folklorists have been interested in religion as an area of research since the beginnings of the discipline in the nineteenth century, although early folklorists often conceived the ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Barnes takes issue with prevailing attitudes in folklore criticism. In their more melancholic moments, academics are often inclined to admit that the pursuit of scholarshi... Read more

In the following essay, Petesch explores the recurrence of certain folkloric themes and character types in the works of African-American writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and many others.... Read more

In the following essay, Bell compares the forging of an African-American literary consciousness in the writings of James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, and others, with the development of national ident... Read more

In the following excerpt, Dseagu explores the influence of folklore on areas such as plot structure and characterization in a number of African novels, including Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. ... Read more

In the following essay, Cleary identifies Thomas Berger's Little Big Man as a parody not only of Old West mythology, but of other myths as well. It is a Western to end all Westerns, with al... Read more

In the following essay, Lee explores the distinctions between fact and legend in the literature of the western, and recounts tales that made their way into the lore of the Old West. Without intendi... Read more

In the following essay, Dekker and Harris find evidence of "second sight" and other ghostly folk notions in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. The doric voice of Hemingway&... Read more

In the following excerpt, Brookes makes a case that Joel Chandler Harris was a literary artist rather than a mere recorder of others' tales. American folklore began with Uncle Remus, some li... Read more

In the following excerpt, Hudson examines the folkloric roots of works by an array of American poets from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Wallace Stevens. At Cairo, Illinois, the Ohio joins the Missi... Read more

In the following essay, Clements compares the uses of folk history in works by N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko. Most literary artists who are sympathetic to folklore view oral literature a... Read more

The categories of myth, legend and folktale have commonly been used as synonymous terms, however, this is not correct. Each have a style of their own although borders between the three are often blu... Read more