'Magic coins' and 'magic squares': the discovery of astrological sigils in the Oldenburg Letters

Enclosed in a 1673 letter to Henry Oldenburg were two drawings of a series of astrological sigils, coins and amulets from the collection of Strasbourg mathematician Julius Reichelt (1637–1719). As portrayals of particular medieval and early modern sigils are relatively rare, this paper will analyse the role of these medals in medieval and early modern medicine, the logic behind their perceived efficacy, and their significance in early modern astrological and cabalistic practice. I shall also demonstrate their change in status in the late seventeenth century from potent magical healing amulets tied to the mysteries of the heavens to objects kept in a cabinet for curiosos. The evolving perception of the purpose of sigils mirrored changing early modern beliefs in the occult influences of the heavens upon the body and the natural world, as well as the growing interests among virtuosi in collecting, numismatics and antiquities

Excavating Childhood: Fairytales, Monsters and Abuse Survival in Lynda Barry’s What It Is

This article investigates the excavation of abused childhood in Lynda Barry’s What It Is. Looking at the centrality of childish play, fairy tales and the Gorgon in the protagonist’s effort to cope with maternal abuse, it argues that comics complicate the life narrative and allow the feminist reconfiguration of the monstrous mother of Western psychoanalysis and art

The Ritual Murder of Blood Libel Legend: A Study of Anti-Semitic Victimization through Projective Inversion

No abstract availabl

North american indian Folklore Studies

Dundes Alan. North american indian Folklore Studies. In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 56 n°1, 1967. pp. 53-79

Meaning of Folklore

The essays of Alan Dundes virtually created the meaning of folklore as an American academic discipline. Yet many of them went quickly out of print after their initial publication in far-flung journals. Brought together for the first time in this volume compiled and edited by Simon Bronner, the selection surveys Dundes's major ideas and emphases, and is introduced by Bronner with a thorough analysis of Dundes's long career, his interpretations, and his inestimable contribution to folklore studies. Runner-up, the Wayland Hand Award for Folklore and History, 200

Meaning of folklore: the analytical essays of Alan Dundes, The

Edited by Simon J. Bronner.Includes bibliographical references and index.Compilation of Dundes's most important analytical work, including many widely unavailable essays.Folklore as a mirror of culture -- The study of folklore in literature and culture: identification and interpretation -- Metafolkore and oral literary criticism -- From etic to emic units in the structural study of folktales postscript, the motif index and the tale-type index: a critique -- How Indic parallels to the ballad of the "walled-up wife" reveal the pitfalls of parochial nationalistic folkloristics -- Structuralism and folklore postscript, binary opposition in myth: the Propp/Lévi Strauss debate in retrospect -- On game morphology: a study of the structure of non-verbal folklore -- The devolutionary premise in folklore theory -- Folk ideas as units of worldview postscript, worldview in folk narrative -- As the crow flies: a straightforward study of lineal worldview in American folk speech -- Much ado about "sweet bugger all": getting to the bottom of a puzzle in British folk speech -- Grouping lore--scientists and musicians: science in folklore--folklore in science? viola jokes--a study of second string humor -- Medical speech and professional identity--the Gomer--a figure of American hospital folk speech "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras"--a folk medical diagnostic proverb -- Getting the folk and the lore together -- Gallus as phallus: a psychoanalytic cross-cultural consideration of the cockfight as fowl play -- The symbolic equivalence of allomotifs: towards a method of analyzing folktales -- Earth-diver: creation of the mythopoeic male postscript, madness in method plus a plea for projective inversion in myth -- Theses on feces: scatological analysis--the folklore of wishing wells here I sit--a study of American latrinalia the kushmaker -- The ritual murder or blood libel legend: a study of anti-Semitic victimization through projective inversion -- On the psychology of collecting folklore postscript, chain letter--a folk geometric progression

From Game to War and Other Psychoanalytic Essays on Folklore

Although folklore has been collected for centuries, its possible unconscious content and significance have been explored only since the advent of psychoanalytic theory. Freud and some of his early disciples recognized the potential of such folklorist genres as myth, folktale, and legend to illuminate the intricate workings of the human psyche. 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. From Game to War offers five of his most mature essays on this topic. Dundes begins with a comprehensive survey of the history of psychological studies of folklore in the United Slates. He then presents a striking analysis of the spectrum of behavior associated with male competitive events ranging from traditional games—such as soccer and American football—to warfare. He argues that all of these activities can be seen as forms of macho battle to determine which individual or team feminizes his or its opponents. This is followed by a study of the saga of William Tell, one of the most celebrated legends in the world. A novel treatment of the biblical flood myth in terms of male pregnancy is the penultimate essay, while the concluding article proposes an ingeniously imaginative interpretation of the underpinnings of anti-Semitism. Alan Dundes, professor of anthropology and folklore at the University of California, Berkeley, is author of Parsing Through Customs: Essays by a Freudian Folklorist. Both individually and collectively they project a range of creative thought that should be accessible to readers from a range of disciplines. —Australian Folklore Dundes makes a good case for the explanatory powers of Freudian symbolism. . . .a fun and illuminating little book. —Express Books From his earliest work to the present, Dundes\u27s scholarship has always been thorough, creative, and accessible to readers from a range of disciplines. —Jay Mechling, University of California, Davis An ideal textbook. . . . Virtually guaranteed to engage students in heated, animated discussion. —Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain Informative and highly readable and offers unique perspectives on a range of topics of interest to folklorists, anthropologists, psychologists, and historians, among others. —Mid-American Folklore Dundes is a clear and engaging writer with a wonderful eye for details which he corrals within a framework of psychoanalytic interpretations. Dundes probably knows more about folklore and folklore studies than any other living human being. He has a keen, critical mind and is an unparalleled bibliographer. —Western Folklorehttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_folklore/1007/thumbnail.jp