The Dictionary of Folklore - Hardcover

Pickering, David.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0304347868 ISBN 13: 9780304347865

Publisher: Cassell & Co., 1999

Synopsis

More than 1,000 A-to-Z entries emphasize the central themes and traditions of world folklore from ancient times to the present day. Entries include: -- Folkloric associations of superstitions, dreams, and myths -- Beliefs and remedies linked with herbs, birds, and animals -- Popular heroes and folkloric characters, including Charlemagne, Paul Bunyan, Don Juan, Hiawatha, and Merlin -- Fabulous beasts and beings, including dragons, elves, fairies, giants, and mermaids -- Customs, rituals, and festivals surrounding such events as birth, marriage, and death -- Folkloric origins of nursery rhymes, proverbs, and sayings.

About this title

About the Author

Pickering is an experienced freelance writer and editor who specializes in compiling arts and general reference books. An English language and literature graduate of St. Peter's College, he has compiled dictionaries and encyclopedias, books of quotations, and works on language, theater and biography. He has been a student of witchcraft, folklore and the supernatural.

From Booklist

The objectives of this approximately 1,000-entry guide, first published in Great Britain as The Cassell Dictionary of Folklore, are to examine origins of beliefs, look at lives of famous characters, provide background on specific tales, and cover a wide range of subjects, from the mythology of real and magic creatures to rituals. Pickering has edited several other works on fable, proverbs, and superstitions.

The alphabetically arranged entries are readable and concisely written, with careful cross-referencing. They include "folk tales, festivals, customs, legendary heroes, old wives' tales, fabulous creatures, folk remedies, and other items of folkloric interest from many cultural traditions." Emphasis is on traditions of the British Isles, western Europe, and North America, but there is some coverage of Africa, India, South America, and other regions as well.

There is interesting material on plants, animals, and superstitions surrounding these, in entries such as Beans, Bears, Pumpkin, and Robin. However, the dictionary seems very conservative, and it lacks a daring leap into current facets of folklore, such as Clarissa Estes' work on the "wild woman archetype." There are entries on some urban legends and on UFOs, but more of these modern touches would have been helpful. Also, definitions of various forms of folklore are not consistently provided. There are entries for ballad, fairy tale, proverb, riddle, and saga but not epic, fable, myth, or tall tale, to name a few. A bibliography would have made the book more valuable for students.

Another one-volume work, The Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore [RBB F 1 96], includes brief information on prominent folklorists as well as a useful bibliography. The more comprehensive Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend (HarperCollins, 1984) is a standard reference source but has not been substantially revised since it first appeared in 1949^-1950. Even with its omissions, A Dictionary of Folklore would be useful in high-school, public, and academic libraries needing a convenient handbook on the topic.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Cassell & Co.
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0304347868
• ISBN 13: 9780304347865
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 324