The devil is the most charismatic and important figure in the blues tradition. He's not just the music's namesake (""the devil's music""), but a shadowy presence who haunts an imagined Mississippi crossroads where, it is claimed, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson traded away his soul in exchange for extraordinary prowess on the guitar. Yet, as scholar and musician Adam Gussow argues, there is much more to the story of the devil and the blues than these cliched understandings. In this groundbreaking study, Gussow takes the full measure of the devil's presence. Working from original transcriptions of more than 125 recordings released during the past ninety years, Gussow explores the varied uses to which black southern blues people have put this trouble-sowing, love-wrecking, but also empowering figure. The book culminates with a bold reinterpretation of Johnson's music and a provocative investigation of the way in which the citizens of Clarksdale, Mississippi, managed to rebrand a commercial hub as ""the crossroads"" in 1999, claiming Johnson and the devil as their own.

Gilbert L. Wilson, gifted ethnologist and field collector for the American Museum of Natural History, thoroughly enjoyed the study of American Indian life and folklore. In 1902 he moved to Mandan, North Dakota and was excited to find he had Indian neighbors. His life among them inspired him to write books that would accurately portray their culture and traditions. Wilson's charming translations of their oral heritage came to life all the more when coupled with the finely-detailed drawings of his brother, Frederick N. Wilson. "Myths of the Red Children" (1907) and "Indian Hero Tales" (1916) have long been recognized as important contributions to the preservation of American Indian culture and lore. Here, for the first time ever, both books are included in one volume, complete with their supplemental craft sections and ethnological notes. While aimed at young folk, the books also appeal to anyone wishing to learn more about the rich and culturally significant oral traditions of North America's earliest people. Nearly 300 drawings accompany the text, accurately depicting tools, clothing, dwellings, and accoutrements. The drawings for this edition were culled from multiple copies of the original books with the best examples chosen for careful restoration. The larger format allows the reader to fully appreciate every detail of Frederick Wilson's remarkable drawings. This is not a mere scan containing torn or incomplete pages, stains and blemishes. This new Onagocag Publishing hardcover edition is clean, complete and unabridged. In addition, it features an introduction by Wyatt R. Knapp that includes biographical information on the Wilson brothers, as well as interesting details and insights about the text and illustrations. Young and old alike will find these books a thrilling immersion into American Indian culture, craft, and lore. Onagocag Publishing is proud to present this definitive centennial edition.

This book explores the intersection of folklore and new media storytelling in feminist adaptations of traditional fairy tales. Focusing on the Germanic folktale, the author investigates how retelling and reinterpreting fairy tales in online fan fiction both criticizes traditional narratives and reinforces the continued importance of fairy tales, while also mirroring contemporary concerns and changes in German-speaking society. Fan versions of the examined folktales are repurposed to serve new functions within the communities in which they are told. Within the community investigated in this book, the stories open an online space where women can reclaim and reconsider the role canonical fairy tales play in their lives. Introducing fandom and new media studies to the realm of oral storytelling and folklore produces a new way of understanding the importance of communal folklore even in an age of mass culture. The adaptations traced throughout this book show the fascinating longevity and flexibility of the folktale and its power to reimagine the Germanic past into the future.

Before the innovative work of Zora Neale Hurston, folklorists from the Hampton Institute collected, studied, and wrote about African American folklore. Like Hurston, these folklorists worked within but also beyond the bounds of white mainstream institutions. They often called into question the meaning of the very folklore projects in which they were engaged.

Shirley Moody-Turner analyzes this output, along with the contributions of a disparate group of African American authors and scholars. She explores how black authors and folklorists were active participants--rather than passive observers--in conversations about the politics of representing black folklore. Examining literary texts, folklore documents, cultural performances, legal discourse, and political rhetoric, "Black Folklore and the Politics of Racial Representation" demonstrates how folklore studies became a battleground across which issues of racial identity and difference were asserted and debated at the turn of the twentieth century. The study is framed by two questions of historical and continuing import. What role have representations of black folklore played in constructing racial identity? And, how have those ideas impacted the way African Americans think about and creatively engage black traditions?

Moody-Turner renders established historical facts in a new light and context, taking figures we thought we knew--such as Charles Chesnutt, Anna Julia Cooper, and Paul Laurence Dunbar--and recasting their place in African American intellectual and cultural history.

Up to now, there has been no complete English-language version of the Russian folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. This translation is based on L. G. Barag and N. V. Novikov's edition, widely regarded as the authoritative Russian-language edition. The present edition includes commentaries to each tale as well as its international classification number. This second volume of 140 tales continues the work started in Volume I, also published by University Press of Mississippi. A third planned volume will complete the first English-language set. The folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev represent the largest single collection of folktales in any European language and perhaps in the world. Widely regarded as the Russian Grimm, Afanas'ev collected folktales from throughout the Russian Empire in what are now regarded as the three East Slavic languages, Byelorusian, Russian, and Ukrainian. The result of his own collecting, the collecting of friends and correspondents, and in a few cases his publishing of works from earlier and forgotten collections is truly phenomenal. In his lifetime, Afanas'ev published more than 575 tales in his most popular and best known work, Narodnye russkie skazki. In addition to this basic collection, he prepared a volume of Russian legends, many on religious themes; a collection of mildly obscene tales, Russkie zavetnye skazki; and voluminous writings on Slavic folk life and mythology. His works were subject to the strict censorship of ecclesiastical and state authorities that lasted until the demise of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Overwhelmingly, his particular emendations were stylistic, while those of the censors mostly concerned content. The censored tales are generally not included in this volume.

Gathered here are gems galore, which, while revealing much as to the Chinese national psyche, highlight particular traits and characteristics that span the globe. We all know Chairman Mau's infamous 'It doesn't matter what colour the cat, as long as it catches mice', but most of us would only recognize an approximate English equivalent of 'A mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake' or, 'A Phoenix might come out of a crow's nest'. The beasts and birds of legend and folklore provide the inimitable Kathryn Lamb's pen with a feast of hilarious subjects, not least a certain revolution at one ill-fated dinner party...

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.