Introduction

In this seminar we will examine how folklore moved to towns and cities and now to the Internet as digital communication encourages new forms of vernacular expression.

Seminar Questions

• What factors have shaped the development of urban folklore in Europe?
• Discuss
  • EITHER the blog of the Folk Horror Revival and Urban Wyrd NetworkLink opens in a new window
  • OR one of the podcasts listed hereLink opens in a new window
  • OR the Cork Folklore ProjectLink opens in a new window

Link opens in a new windoRequired Reading

Bell, Karl, The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack: Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular CulturesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (London, 2012), Introduction.

Blank, Trevor J., 'Introduction: Pattern in the Virtual Folk Culture of Computer-Mediated Communication', in Trevor J. Blank, ed., Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human InteractionLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (Logan, UT, 2012), pp. 1-24.

Further Reading

Barnes, Daniel R., 'Interpreting Urban Legends', in Gillian Bennett and Paul Smith, eds, Contemporary Legend: A Reader (New York, 1996), 1-16.

Bell, Karl, The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack: Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures (London, 2012)

Bell, Karl, The Magical Imagination: Magic and Modernity in Urban England, 1780-1914 (Cambridge, 2012)

Bendix, Regina F., and Galit Hasan-Rokem, eds, A Companion to Folklore (Malden, MA, 2012)

Blank, Trevor J., ed., Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human Interaction (Logan, UT, 2012)

Blank, Trevor J., ed., Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World (Logan, UT, 2009)

Bronner, Simon J., Folklore: The Basics (London, 2017)

Ellis, Bill, '"Fake News" in the Contemporary Legend Dynamic', Journal of American Folklore 131 (2018), 398-404, 509.

Flinterud, Guro, '"Folk" in the Age of Algorithms: Theorizing Folklore on Social Media Platforms'Link opens in a new window, Folklore 134/4 (2023), 439-61.

Gelbin, Cathy S., 'The Golem: From Enlightenment Monster to Artificial Intelligence', Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, N0. 69 (2021/2022), pp. 79-94Link opens in a new window

Hing, Richard, et al., eds, Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd 2: Spirits of Place (Durham, 2019)

Kalmre, Eda, The Human Sausage Factory: A Study of Post-War Rumour in TartuLink opens in a new window, trans. Kait Tamm and Alexander Harding (Amsterdam, 2013)

• Krawczyk-Wasilewska, Violetta, Folklore in the Digital Age: Collected EssaysLink opens in a new window (Łódz, 2016)

McNeill, Lynne S., Teaching Guide to Trevor J. Blank, ed.,Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital WorldLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (Logan, UT, 2010)

Ó Giolláin, Diarmuid, Locating Irish Folklore: Tradition, Modernity, Identity (Cork, 2000)

Paciorek, Andy, et al., eds, Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, 2nd ed. (Durham, 2018)

Peck, Andrew, and Trevor J Blank, eds, Folklore and Social Media (Logan, UT, 2021)

Rees, Gareth E., Unofficial Britain: Journeys through Unexpected Places (London, 2020)

Roud, Steve, The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games, Rhymes and Traditions (London, 2010)

Scovell, Adam, Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange (Leighton Buzzard, 2017)

Westwood, Jacqueline, and Jacqueline Simpson, eds, Haunted England: The Penguin Book of Ghosts (Harmondsworth, 2008)

Westwood, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys (Harmondsworth, 2005)

Westwood, Jennifer, and Sophia Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends (London, 2009)

Electronic Resources

See here.