Folklore on the American Land

by Duncan Emrich

Book Overview

An introductory study to American folklore acquaints readers with folk grammar, beliefs, and legends that reveal this distinctive way of life This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316237213
• ISBN13: 9780316237215
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 707 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Pure, Unexpurgated Traditional American Folklore

Folklore On The American Land is one of prolific author Duncan Emrich's greatest contributions to American culture, history, and folklore. This book should be an essential item for librarians, educators, folklorists, historians, and roots musicians. Except for three relatively brief, informative text chapters ('American Folklore,' 'Some Guideposts,' and 'Folk Language and Grammar'), the balance of the book--the next 665 pages--is composed of such infrequently reproduced or catalogued subjects as "Quilt Names,' 'Murder Ballads,' 'Tales Told in the Gullah Dialect,' 'Nonsense Spelling,' 'Autograph Album Rhymes,' 'Cattle Brands,' 'Names of Ozark Fiddle Tunes,' 'Hound Dog Names,' 'Street Cries,' 'Folklore of Birth,'and a host of others. Each of the sections is briefly introduced and contextually framed by Emrich. In the lengthy song sections, the music as well as the lyrics are included. 'Legends And Tales' includes material readily found in standard American folklore collections, such as the legends of Jesse James and General Custer, and the history of the American Santa Claus and cowboy traditions. Emrich was also well ahead of his time, as the volume includes a chapter on 'Urban Belief Tales,' now universally known as urban legends. Today, their discovery as a valid and apparently spontaneous folklore form is sadly attributed to others.Most if not all of the included material derives from the period before radio, when most Americans typically lived and worked in rural farming communities, grew and prepared their own food, built their own homes, and entertained themselves and one another by singing and musical instrumentation. For these generations, life was largely church-and-community based, slower, and less complex than it has been for generations since. The relative purity, pain, resourcefulness, hard work and beauty of the period is evident on every page. The generation that produced the baby boomers will remember and identify with much of the material included here. However, baby boomers will also easily recognize some of the material, especially from childhood and early school days. Originally published in 1972, when many of these products, activities, songs, stories, and traditions were already becoming lost to the American people, Folklore On The American Land has become an even more necessarily, if not crucial, compendium as America moves rapidly into the 21st Century. The book is perfect for reading out loud to children, including in social groups, and bringing out at family gatherings. The book will not only spark preciously-guarded and near-forgotten memories, but lively conversations and debates as well. Beautifully illustrated with period photographs of hog-calling contests, quilting bees, grade school glee clubs, families praying before supper, 'mountain people' carrying a homemade coffin, crowds of men and women being baptized in a river, card players, food stands at country fairs, 'Chicago Saturday night,' and a wealth of others. F