Folklore Critical Essay | Carlos C. Drake

Carlos C. Drake

SOURCE: "Literary Criticism and Folklore," in Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. V, No. 2, Fall, 1971, pp. 289-97.

In the following essay, Drake distinguishes the work of the folklorist from that of his or her colleagues in a typical English department.

That folklorist would have to be very insensitive who was unaware of the suspicion held by many of his colleagues in English departments that his scholarly activities, at least as compared with theirs, hardly warrant the label of scholarship. Of what real use to the study of major literary texts is the collecting of comparatively crude material from oral tradition? What critical concepts do his students employ when comparing motifs in legends or describing harvest festivals? If the work of the literary critic consists mainly in the analysis and judgment of works of fiction and poetry, does not an activity which treats most of its texts at the same...
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