Folklore Matters

“… not a large book, but that makes all the more admirable the way the author succeeds in doing justice to so many of the most important subjects in folkloristics. This book is a key work, and should be made compulsory reading in every university in which folkloristics is studied.”―Jon Hnefill Aoalsteinsson, Asian Folklore Studies

“With this book Alan Dundes has once again demonstrated what a brilliant essayist he is: learned, thought-provoking and entertaining. He has much inspiration to give to anthropologists, and he is quite indispensable to folklore scholarship.”―Bengt af Klintberg, Ethnos

“If there were still a question whether Alan Dundes is America’s leading folklorist, then the essays in this volume … should dispel it once and for all. An internationally acclaimed scholar is at work here, for whom folklore really matters in all of its varied aspects.”―Wolfgang Mieder, University of Vennont

“A maverick folklorist, Alan Dundes challenges his colleagues and readers with erudition and candor. His essays are insightful and entertaining, exploring folklore with an amazing breadth.”―Dan Ben-Amos, University of Pennsylvania

“As always, a reader is dazzled by the range of Dundes erudition. He doesn’t just cite things, he digests them.”―Gary Alan Fine, University of Minnesota

“For over two decades, he has been a major voice urging folklorists (and historians and literary critics, for that manner) to move beyond mere description to true interpretation of cultural texts in their contexts. These essays continue that message, and they do so with fresh power.”―Jay Mechling, University of California, Davis

“These recent essays from the pen of a passionate folklorist include two classics on the history of the field. The Fabrication of ‘Fakelore’ and The Anthropologist and the Comparative Method in Folklore’ are required reading for anyone seriously interested in folklore as a discipline.”―Barbara Kirshenblan-Gimblett, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

Alan Dundes (1934–2005) was an American folklorist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was largely considered the most influential―and controversial―folklorist of his time.