In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

174 Western American Literature The Mexican Pet. By Jan Harold Brunvand. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. 221 pages, $13.95.) Teachers of American folklore and students of American popular culture will find Jan Harold Brunvand’s latest book welcome reading. The Mexican Pet: More “New” Urban Legends And Some Old Favorites offers additional urban legends to be added to those given by Brunvand in his popular books The Vanishing Hitchhiker and The Choking Doberman. One other Brunvand book, The Study of American Folklore, isthe standard for introductory studies of American folklore. The title tale concerns a sewer rat found south of the border and brought back by a caring person who thinks it is a small dog. I’m not sure what future sociologists will say about an American society that passes a story like thiswhen more and more immigrants are moving here from Mexico, but I am sure that readers today will enjoy the story for ingredients found in other traveling anecdotes found across the country: topicality in subject and illusion of reality in plot. Wasn’t it the uncle of a friend of a friend who actually experienced this on a trip to Tijuana? Or was it Juarez? Brunvand’s latest addition to his impressive list of folklore publications is obviously for both a general audience and for students. At one point in his preface, the writer’s tone is similar to that found in many popular movies. If this is number three in a series of works, can number four be far behind? Once again Brunvand has provided American folklorists with modern Ameri­ can traditions and beliefs. And he has given the folk, in a form they will enjoy, valuable information about contemporary life. Excuse me while I raid my son’sM&M candy jar of green M&M’s, which we all know are aphrodisiacs. JIM HARRIS New Mexico Junior College The Real West Marginal Way: A Poet’s Autobiography. By Richard Hugo. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1986, 261 pages, $16.95.) Everything about this book speaks to how much love Richard Hugo had, fought for, and inspired in his many friends, fellow-poets and readers. Planned as a collection of essays but unfinished at Hugo’s death in 1982, this auto­ biography was finished and edited by people Hugo trusted and loved: Ripley, his wife; James Welch, one of his students, and Welch’swife Lois. The intro­ duction by poet William Matthews and the final interview, by writer William Kittredge, reinforce this collaborative, nearly communal effort to put together the pieces of Hugo’s life with honesty and care. I doubt if Hugo could have asked for better, even from himself. ...

pdf

Share