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"For those of us who want a useful sourcebook, Professor Brunvand has given us a handy compilation." London Review of Books "The stories are fascinating and comprehensive." The Daily Telegraph "An amusing and interesting book." The Sunday Telegraph
Elaine Kendall, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A uniquely entertaining book, edifying scholarship, diverting social history."
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First Sentence
We are not aware of our own folklore any more than we are of the grammatical rules of our language. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
We are not aware of our own folklore any more than we are of the grammatical rules of our language. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Vanishing Hitchhiker," folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand's first book on urban legends, provides a thorough introduction to the definition, interpretation, and themes of urban folkore. About three dozen classic "friend of a friend" tales are covered in depth; each is presented through several examples, accompanied by a detailed analysis, and listed in a Notes section highlighting folklore journal articles about it. All in all, an excellent introduction for those who care to learn more about the field of urban folklore rather than just read collections of urban legends.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is excellent. By reading it you get a good scope on what urban legends are and how they fulfil their role in communication in society. I have done some research in Folklore and Urban Legends in the Netherlands, and Brunvand's work has had a major influence on the scope of my thesis. He knows what he is talking about. This book gives a good insight in storytelling, culture and American Society. A must for researchers in cultural studies, and probably a good book for those who want to learn more about the American society. It is fun to read, clearly written and Brunvand has a nice style of writing. I think many people would like this book, whether they are doing research, are on holiday, on the train or whatever. It's a book of all times, and so are the stories...
Format:Paperback
Academic and professional folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand teaches us about "...modern American folk narratives, stories that most people have heard as true accounts of real-life experiences, and few except scholars recognize as an authentic and characteristic part of our contemporary folklore." Brunvand invented the term "urban legends" to describe these narratives and literally wrote the book on how to recognize, interpret and document them. This is that book--the first one, anyway.
Brunvand distinguishes the urban legend from tall tails, jokes and its other narrative cousins. The prototypical urban legend is represented as true, spread primarily by word of mouth, unattributed--often happening to a "friend of a friend," and has many variations in detail while preserving the story's core elements. Readers are encouraged to become amateur folklorists who can recognize these narratives, question their veracity, and explore our motives for repeating them to each other.
The bulk of the book presents and analyzes urban legends for readers benefit and entertainment. They are grouped by loose theme into chapters that cover car stories (e.g., "The Philanderer's Porsche"), teen horror tales ("The Hook"), contaminations ("Spiders in the Hairdoo"), death ("Dead Cat in the Package"), nudity ("Nude in the RV"), and business ripoffs ("Red Velvet Cake"). The final chapter reviews several "myths in the making" that were on the rise at the time the book was first released.
For the urban legends themselves, I agree that the snopes web site is a far more current, extensive, and dynamic collection. But reading this book is worthwhile for Brunvand's early thoughts and theories about their origins and our motivations for telling and believing them. Interested readers may want to read the next book in this series, The Choking Doberman: And Other Urban Legends. For a more serious and methods-oriented discussion of folklore, see the most recent version of Brunvand's text, The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction.
Brunvand distinguishes the urban legend from tall tails, jokes and its other narrative cousins. The prototypical urban legend is represented as true, spread primarily by word of mouth, unattributed--often happening to a "friend of a friend," and has many variations in detail while preserving the story's core elements. Readers are encouraged to become amateur folklorists who can recognize these narratives, question their veracity, and explore our motives for repeating them to each other.
The bulk of the book presents and analyzes urban legends for readers benefit and entertainment. They are grouped by loose theme into chapters that cover car stories (e.g., "The Philanderer's Porsche"), teen horror tales ("The Hook"), contaminations ("Spiders in the Hairdoo"), death ("Dead Cat in the Package"), nudity ("Nude in the RV"), and business ripoffs ("Red Velvet Cake"). The final chapter reviews several "myths in the making" that were on the rise at the time the book was first released.
For the urban legends themselves, I agree that the snopes web site is a far more current, extensive, and dynamic collection. But reading this book is worthwhile for Brunvand's early thoughts and theories about their origins and our motivations for telling and believing them. Interested readers may want to read the next book in this series, The Choking Doberman: And Other Urban Legends. For a more serious and methods-oriented discussion of folklore, see the most recent version of Brunvand's text, The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
We all know the stories
A fabulous introduction into the propagation of urban legend. We already know the stories - the hook or alligators in New York's sewers. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 1999
Entertaining one-day read, but only for fun
I bought this book to get a better understanding of WHY urban myths and other word-of-mouth stories are passed along in our society. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 1998
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