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The term Folklore has changed meaning slightly
from the last century to this. In the nineteenth century,
folklore was the term used to describe the study of the
oral traditions and art of the common people, usually
rural, uneducated peasants. In this century the term
has been modified. Since there are few peasant cultures
left and since in the later half of this century, it
was realized that all people have folklore; a term used
to describe a variety of types of lore. Though it is
still primarily concerned with orally transmitted narrative;
i.e. folktales, ballads, legends,
and epics; the discipline has
also concerned itself with folk art, folk music, and
folk architecture, to name a few. In modern days the
study of folklore has also begun to include non-oral
narrative like jokes told over the internet and popular
culture, including television.
In this class, we will be mostly be discussing folktale
in terms of narrative. In the 19th century, collectors
like the brothers Grimm and Mathias
Winther went out into the rural areas and began collecting
narratives told by the peasants. As they recorded the
stories, they froze these stories in the form in which
they heard them. This is contrary to oral narrative,
which is meant to be a fluid transmission from teller
to audience.
Recorded -> Printed -> Frozen -> Told Anew.
S. Mellor |
