Brunvand, Jan Harold

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MSPONSE;: 014 FOULORE BOOK RhVIET:B 
I agree t h a t  recent folklore book reviews (d is  cussed i n  the FOLKLORE 
FORUM, 11, 4 ed i to r i a l )  have sometimes been shockingly la te ,  bland, -and 
telegraphic. And you a re  so  r i g h t  about the I t l i t t l e  short  ofs:outrageousn 
treatment accorded new books and reprints  i n  certain journals. But when 
you tend to equate Itadequate" with "lengthy1* and Irmajortt with ~disoureivelt 
reviews, we part company, In a scholarly f i e l d  l i k e  ours where something 
approaching 200 new book-length publications arr ive annually f o r  review, 
and where quarterly journals survive on subsidies, and indexed abstracts  
offer  the only hope of staying anywhere near up-to-date, we need longer 
reviews about as  much as  John Henry needed the steam d r i l l o r  Jesse James 
needed Robert Ford, Lord, h r d l  ---aqy book review edi tor  who doesn t t  
dedicate himself t o  standing firm between reviewers 1 wordiness and read- 
ers!  r ea l  needs is  l i t t l e  short  of a d i r ty  l i t t l e  coward. 
The review a r t i c l e  is one thing (more an a r t i c l e  than a review) and the 
genuinely in te l lec tua l ly  meaty book review is  another, The folklore jour- 
nal  t ha t  reserves space f o r  the former w i l l  usually have to drop the l a t -  
ter,  as JF I  does, An abstracts  journal and a booknotes column help to -
bridge the gap between ideal  and rea l i ty ,  It may well be tha t  others w i l l  
see merit  i n  your proposal f o r  a new AFS journal of book reviews, but I 
can see only a disastrous invasion of verbiage resulting i f  you unleash 
reviewers upon books and allow them an open-ended format. 
The review of Unda D Q ~ ~ ~ s  Folktales and Socie carried i n  the same is- 
sue of the FORUM (pp. 109-1~mespaspa&~uld be a warning, It 1s 
a prime example of in-depth verbosity wherein the author proceeds t o  in- 
effectually discuss EVERYT)ImG, He is rather  too extensive and quite in- 
clined t o  general summary, and hets  relat ively insignif icant ly wordy, Any 
good &itor would be able t o  whack tha t  piece down to about two pages, ex- 
cept tha t  t he  author should do it himself a s  penance. 
I amused myself on a plane ride the other day by counting the general- 
izied, repetit ious,  and imprecise lenguage in tha t  review, The author of 
the book is referred t o  a s  %he authorlt thirty-three times, and she us- 
wlly *proceeds to" o r  "hastens toft do things. The favor i te  qual i f ie r  i s  
"rather, fl with ftrelatively, $1 scertain, 11 t@reasonably,lt e t c ,  appearing as  
variants, There i s  a l o t  of self-conscious stuffing i n  the s tyle ,  phrases 
l i k e  "while mentioning footnotes, we should also mention thatfr  and * I t  i s  
interest ing t o  observe that,!, and especially "almost completely free from 
typographical errors (only two were noted).!' fnf in i t ives  al;e awkwardly 
sp l i t ,  namounttt i s  used where g~numberft is meant, and cliches l i k e  nut- 
most Importance, s  overwhelming majority, f t  warious phenomena, " and "de- 
cided example11 clog the s tyle ,  Patterns of phrasing l i k e  nsuccinctly, 
y e t  thoroughly!t and ftbrief, but more than adequate" p i l e  words on words 
with no gain i n  meaning. 
Your reviewer .has obviously read the book thoroughly and thoughtfully . 
He has Importdnt things to say about it, and the book i t s e l f  
the close at tent ion of a l l  fo lk ta l e  scholars and most general fo lk lor i s t s  
as  well. Thus, an adequate review i s  absolutely required i n  any serious 
folklore journal. But it is only the  WE slthy (o r  mimeographed? ) journals 
that  can afford t o  give a reviewer h i s  head t h i s  way, I hope you won't 
take t h i s  as  a h in t  t h a t  the FORUM should be converted t o  a review jour- 
( ~ o n t f d , ,  p, 168) 
a t  a Bloomington party, was t o l d  tha t  two g i r l s  from Bennington, Mass., 
ca l l ed  the European number and were told,  I1Youtre on the r ight  track." 
They haven't been seen since. The Beatles paradise i s  supposedly on a 
Greek island. One publication reported t h a t  the London directory has 
no such number, another tha t  an i r a t e  o ld  lady answered. 
Mrs. MacLaughlin informs us t h a t  Toad H a l l ,  a Bloomington furni ture  and 
f ixtures  boutique, had a run on black l i g h t  bulbs and i n  f a c t  sold out 
t h e i r  en t i re  stock. T h i s  i n  connection with the need t o  examine one al- 
bum cover i n  black l i g h t  (3)  f o r  clues, Her informants to ld  her t h a t  
the song l y r i c s  t lroller coaster" and I1silver hammer" r e f e r  t o  the f ac t  
t h s t  McCartney died from drug use. 
Robert J. Adam generated a l i v e l y  discussion i n  his large (c. 300 stu- 
dents) Introductory FolWore c lass  and garnered a bulky f i l e  of short  
ntexts.w Charles Boilcs also collected material i n  one of h i s  folklore 
classes. A t  Eastern New Mexico University R o s l h  Jordan questioned her  
students about the story. They had heard the rumor but there seems t o  
have been no mass in te res t  on tha t  c~unpus. 
O u r  thanks t o  Mrs. MacLaughlin, Mr. Adams, Professor. J 6 r W .  and Mr.;- 
fvey for giving us infohuation. Mr. William Clenents, Senior Archivist 
a t  the I.U. Folklore Archives informs us t h a t  some a r t i c l e s  are on 
f i l e  there. 
RESPONSE: ON FOLKLO33 BOOK REVIEWS (Cont'd. . from p. 166) 
nal; you do too many other things too well f o r  that .  A s  f o r  the cer ta in  
other journals, t h e y t l l  just  have t o  learn  to t r y  harder. 
Jan Harold Brunvand 
Book Review Editor, JAF 
Department of ~ n ~ l i s r  
University of Utah 
evolved i n  England throughout the nineteenth century as  a reult of per- 
sonal and in te l lec tua l  relationships and influences. Of none of t h i s  
does the reviewer speak, while he goes on about Easter eggs. Again, he 
says t h a t  Professor Corson fails t o  remark on the relationship of Euro- 
pean colonialism t o  folklore theory, when Chapter X I ,  "The Overseas 
 folklorist^,^^ begins with jus t  this obvious point. He follows the as- 
sumption, too common among soc ia l  sc ien t i s t s ,  t ha t  theories of the past  
are of  in t e re s t  only i f  they point t o  currently fashionable ideas. 
The reasons for  the h o s t i l i t y  to folklore so evident i n  this essay i n  them- 
selves form a curious chapter i n  the h is tory  of folklore studies. Part  of 
the reasons l i e  i n  the misconceptions attiltched t o  the word "folkloren; 
par t  l i e  i n  the disdain of entrenched discipl ines  toward an outsider. If 
there were chairs of folklore i n  Br i t i sh  universit ies,  the great  t rad i -  
t ion  of English folklore studies could be maintained without in te r fer -  
ence from sniggering anthropologists o r  meddling Yanks. 
Richard M, Dorson 
Folklore Ins t i tu t e  
Indiana University 


Response: On Folklore Book Reviews

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Response: On Folklore Book Reviews

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