Vol. 81 No. 1 – Winter, 2022
Articles
“Horror Stories and Pills for Men: Social Complaint in Narratives about Contraception
Hillary Tully
ABSTRACT: Narratives about birth control provide a window into the cultural responses to current contraceptive methods and can be used to achieve greater satisfaction among contraceptive users through the informed expansion of options. Stories about negative effects attributed to hormonal contraception and rumors about male birth control express social complaint about the burden of birth control on women. They also reveal a preference for nonhormonal and male options, which form a small proportion of currently available methods. KEYWORDS: birth control, contraception, reproductive health, narrative, rumor
The Persecuted Heroine as Written by Philippe de Rémi: The Narrative Logic of the Severed Hand in ATU 706
Thomas Leek
ABSTRACT: The “Constance” version of the accused queen plot in medieval literature contains a subtype that in modern folklore is classified as ATU 706, “The Maiden without Hands.” The threatened incest and mutilation have been the subject of much discussion, but there is no fundamental distinction between ATU 706 and other texts sharing the basic plot. Rather, the combination of threatened incest and mutilation is a plot embellishment heightening drama and resolving problems in narrative logic. KEYWORDS: folktale, incest, mutilation, persecuted, daughter
Four Laws of Folklore
Elliott Oring
ABSTRACT: Folklorists were once interested in proposing laws that described the nature of various folklore genres and behaviors. Four such laws concern ballad lyricization, folktale scene, rites of passage, and the conditions that promote superstitious behavior. I propose that folklorists resume the task of formulating laws and investigating both their range and their limitations. KEYWORDS: law, lyricization, folktale scene, rites of passage, superstition
Review Essays
Reviews
Tok Thompson, Posthuman Folklore
Reviewed by Daisy Ahlstone
Michael Owen Jones and Lucy M. Long, Comfort Food: Meanings and Memories
Reviewed by Anita Anderson
Paul Vaillant-Couturier, Johnny Breadless: A Pacifist Fairy Tale
Reviewed by James I. Deutsch
Noriko Tsunoda Reider, Mountain Witches: Yamauba
Reviewed by Michael Dylan Foster
Gus Palmer, Jr., When Dream Bear Sings: Native Literatures of the Southern Plains
Reviewed by Geneva Harline
Claire Schmidt, If You Don’t Laugh You’ll Cry: The Occupational Humor of White Wisconsin Prison Workers
Reviewed by Nic Hartmann
Sandie Holguín, Flamenco Nation: The Construction of Spanish National Identity
Reviewed by Jo Farb Hernández
Robert L. Stone, Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus! Photographs from the Sacred Steel Community
Reviewed by Lauren Pond
Idit Pintel-Ginsberg, The Angel and the Cholent: Food Representation from the Israel Folktale Archive
Reviewed by Steve Siporin
Brad Schreiber, Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice, and the Will to Change
Reviewed by Shalon Van Tine