Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Introduction ix
5. Part One. Literary and Linguistic Analysis of Folklore Genres
6. 1. Oral Genres as a Bridge to Written Literature 3
7. 2. Aspects of the Märchen and the Legend 17
8. 3. The Generic Nature of Oral Epic Poetry 35
9. 4. The Blues as a Genre 59
10. 5. On Defining the Riddle: The Problem of a Structural Unit 77
11. Part Two. The Ethnography of Folklore Genres
12. 6. Legend and Belief 93
13. 7. Proverbs: A Social Use of Metaphor 125
14. 8. The "Pretty Languages" of Yellowman: Genre, Mode, and Texture in Navaho Coyote Narratives 145
15. 9. Japanese Professional Storytellers 171
16. Part Three. The Classification of Folklore Genres
17. 10. The Complex Relations of Simple Forms 193
18. 11. Analytical Categories and Ethnic Genres 217
19. Notes on the Contributors 245
20. A Selected Bibliography 249
21. Index 285