Bøger af Alan Dundes

In these stimulating essays, Alan Dundes presents a history of psychoanalytic studies of folklore while also showing how folklore methodology can be used to clarify and validate psychoanalytic theory. Dundes' work is unique in its symbolic analysis of the ordinary imagination. His data are children's games, folktales, everyday speech, cultural metaphors for power and prestige, and rituals associated with childbirth.

The 30th Anniversary Edition is a candid academic treatment of offensive and sick humor by the leading folklorist scholar on the topic of jokes and joke cycles. It features insightful, surprising, controversial and thought-provoking analyses of the jokes that have been told for years, within various cultures. "No piece of folklore continues to be transmitted unless it means something-even if neither the speaker nor the audience can articulate what that meaning might be. In fact, it usually is essential that the joke's meaning not be crystal clear. If people knew what they were communicating when they told jokes, the jokes would cease to be effective as socially sanctioned outlets for expressing taboo ideas and subjects."-Alan Dundes, in the preface to Cracking Jokes Where there is anxiety, there will be jokes to express that anxiety. Jokes are legitimate folklore-like myths, proverbs, legends, superstitions and songs-and as such, they reflect what is on people's minds. There has been no shortage of jokes or anxiety since the 1960s, and in this book, Dundes reminds us of the jokes we have been telling, and reveals the anxiety these jokes reflect. His interpretations are not always popular. His investigation into antisemitic jokes in Germany in the 1980s, for example, met with widespread criticism. But it is a part of society that makes a difference and should not be shielded from academic scrutiny. Dundes likens his critics to those who attack the messenger when they do not like the news. All kinds of jokes exist. He reports on what exists and applies the best methods of investigative journalism to uncover the motive and true meaning behind the jokes. As Marc Galanter writes in the new foreword, "A preeminent scholar of jokes, Dundes was an adventurous and prolific pioneer of the study of many realms of folklore. A tireless champion of the field, he was a major force in shifting the study of folklore from its rural and antiquarian tilt to encompass the prolific lore of modern life. ... He regarded jokes not only as subject matter to be analyzed and understood in their own right, but as useful tools to uncover social and cultural patterns." This book in particular is the culmination of these important yet understudied cultural devices. Dundes was "a deeply dedicated scholar who maintained a radiant faith that by understanding our susceptibility to the irrational we might empower ourselves to move beyond prejudice and act rationally and humanely." The book, with the new foreword, is republished by the independent academic press Quid Pro Books.

A casebook of interpretations of the ballad "The Walled-Up Wife". Some contributors offer competing nationalistic claims concerning the ballad's origins, Ruth Mandel examines gender and power issues in the ballad, and lyubomira Parpulova-Gribble presents a structuralist interpretation.

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Contents -- Preface -- Section One: Folklore Theory And Method -- 1. The American Concept Of Folklore -- 2. The Devolutionary Premise In Folklore Theory -- 3. The Study Of Folklore In Literature And Culture: Identification And Interpretation -- 4. Proverbs And The Ethnography Of Speaking Folklore -- 5. Metafolklore And Oral Literary Criticism -- Section Two: Structural Analysis Of Folklore -- 6. From Etic To Emic Units In The Structural Study Of Folktales -- 7. Structural Typology In North American Indian Folktales -- 8. On Game Morphology: A Study Of The Structure Of Non-Verbal Folklore -- 9. The Structure Of Superstition -- 10. Toward A Structural Definition Of The Riddle -- 11. On The Structure Of The Proverb -- Section Three: The Psychoanalytic Approach -- 12. On The Psychology Of Collecting Folklore -- 13. Earth-Diver: Creation Of The Mythopoeic Male -- 14. Summoning Deity Through Ritual Fasting -- 15. The Father, The Son, And The Holy Grail -- 16. On The Psychology Of Legend -- Section Four: The Analysis Of American Folklore -- 17. Here I Sit - A Study Of American Latrinalia -- 18. On Elephantasy And Elephanticide -- 19. The Number Three In American Culture -- 20. Thinking Ahead: A Folkloristic Reflection Of The Future Orientation In American Worldview -- Bibliography -- Index -- Backmatter

Although folklore has been collected for centuries, its possible unconscious content and significance have been explored only since the advent of psychoanalytic theory. Alan Dundes is a renowned folklorist who has successfully devoted the better part of his career to applying psychoanalytic theory to the materials of folklore.

Mixes Sigmund Freud with vampires and The Little Mermaid to see what new light psychoanalysis can bring to folklore techniques and forms. Bloody Mary in the Mirror is an expedition into psychoanalytic folklore techniques and constitutes a giant step towards realizing the potential Freud's work promises for folklore studies.

Alan Dundes' theses identifies a strong anal erotic element in German national character, citing numerous examples of scatological data from authentic compilations of German folklore. The examination of this single trait of German character is used to demonstrate that national character exists and that its existence is unambiguously documented by the folklore of a nation.

Dundes offers a new and exciting way to resolve some of the mysteries and contradictions that evolved during the Bible's prewritten legacy and that persist today. He unearths and contrasts multiple versions of nearly every major biblical event, including the creation of woman, the flood, the ten commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and the inscription on the Cross.

Focusing on the topic of circumventing custom, this book places special emphasis on the ingenious ways Orthodox (and other) Jews have devised to avoid breaking the extensive list of activities forbidden on the sabbath.

Office copier folklore-those tattered sheets of cartoons, mottoes, zany poems, defiant sayings, parodies, and crude jokes that regularly circulate in office buildings everywhere-is the subject of this innovative study. this type of folklore represents a major form of tradition in modern America, and the authors have compiled this raw data for scholarship-and entertainment. These creations of the Paperwork Empire comment on topics and problems that concern all urban Americans. No one and nothing escapes their raunchy wit and sarcasm. Bosses, ethnic groups, minorities, the sexes, alternative lifestyles, politics, welfare, government workers, the law, bureaucracy, and even "The Night Before Christmas" all come under fire to form a biting, and hilarious, commentary on modern American society.

Folklorist Alan Dundes offers a radical analysis of caste in India, focusing on the rationale underlying the customs surrounding untouchability.