Readings in American Folklore ed. by Jan Harold Brunvand (review)

152 Western American Literature Readings in American Folklore. Edited by Jan Harold Brunvand. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1979. 466 pages, $8.95.) In response to requests for a companion and supplement for his The Study of American Folklore, Brunvand collected these thirty-six articles from a variety of regional and national journals. The four sections — Col­ lections of American Folk Materials, Folklore in Context, Analysis and In­ terpretation of American Folklore, and Some Theoretical Perspectives in Folklore — offer articles both eminently readable and intellectually stimu­ lating. The difficulty in reviewing a collection of this nature is, of course, that each essay deserves comment, but most, pragmatically, cannot even be mentioned. Suffice it to say, Brunvand’s reputation as a folklorist and scholar temper the selections as do his headnotes for each section and article as he suggests major themes, poses questions and applications, and identifies any perceived problems; e.g., he suggests that Alan Dundes’ “On Game Morph­ ology: A Study of the Structure of Non-Verbal Folklore” allows the “begin­ ning folklore student ample opportunity to apply these” structural ana­ lytical principles “to their own projects.” Additionally, the headnotes afford Brunvand a way to provide bibliographic cross-references to additional jour­ nal articles. His bibliographies are extremely useful, but at the same time students with limited libraries may be frustrated in attempts to follow through with suggested additional readings. Nevertheless, readers may find the editor’s comments helpful as an aid in understanding an article or as a basis for selecting a different essay according to one’s background, inter­ est, or time. The selections in Section One move from representative articles reflect­ ing possible collectanea, e.g., proverbs, songs, specific artifacts (Roger Welsch’s “The Cornstalk Fiddle”), campus lore (Michael Bell’s “Cokelore ”). These item-oriented articles may serve both as a useful introduction to folklore genres and as a means of establishing a working definition of folklore, especially Warren Kliewer’s “Collecting Folklore Among the Mennonites .” The advantage of these nine articles and of those throughout the text is that they provide ample examples that demonstrate what folklore is, not what folklore was. Brunvand skillfully moves from identification of text to the discussion of context in Section Two. Context has often been neglected in pursuit of item, but as the emphasis of the scholarship has shifted from the item to social and cultural contexts, the scholarship, as Brunvand illustrates, has reflected the shift. The growing sophistication of the articles parallels the potential intellectual growth of those studying folklore. Each article in Section Two offers insight into the possibilities of context in terms of per­ formance as well as the function of the item, the use made of it in a par­ ticular situation; who uses it, who else is there and what happens as a result. Notable is Judy Trejo’s “Coyote Tales: A Paiute Commentary.” Reviews 153 From an examination of context, a natural step is to formal discussions and analysis and interpretation of items. Brunvand suggests that all research in folklore leads in some way to analysis. A system of classifying or an exam­ ination of context are but two means of analysis. It is fitting that eleven articles, the most of any section, are included in this third section. Brunvand offers a diversity of articles that deal specifically and tangentially with ana­ lytical methods that anyone studying folklore needs to know: historicalgeographical , rhetorical, aesthetic, structural, psychological, symbolic, and functional. The text offers more than might be dealt with in a short time, but the survey is essential to illustrate the abundance of theoretical material and the vitality of the discipline. The final and most difficult section is the fourth section — theoretical perspectives. If, how'ever, the previous essays have been carefully read and thoughtfully digested these last six articles will enhance the student’s under­ standing of American folklore. These articles reflect as w’ell as any six might the current state of scholarship in folklore: the current attempts to redefine long held assumptions and to refine new' concerns. Pivotal are Brunvand’s own essay “New Directions for the Study of Folklore” and Dan Ben-Amos’ excellent, “Toward a Definition of...