Folklore in Literature: The Function of Narrative

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel highlights the malleable nature of folklore and the utile manner in which traditional expression answers diverse needs of communities and the challenges they face. Drawing linkages across a range of sites and genres—South Slavic epic, Old Believer legends, American fantasy novels, and Russian gothic—the presenters reveal the service folklore renders in emic contexts for communities concerned with continuity of cultural values, in etic contexts for groups seeking to adapt others’ materials to their own needs, and in the clash between both groups where meaning can be reworked, coopted, or devalued. The panelists challenge simplistic readings of the right to representation in expressive art forms. This panel is sponsored by the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association (SEEFA).

Sub Unit

• Folklore Studies

Chair

• Cammeron Girvin, Library of Congress

Papers

• Epic Femininity in Slavic Oral-Traditional Epic of the Balkans - Rachel Neale, Florida State U

• 'And Still That City Stands Invisible': Pavel Mel’nikov’s In the Forests as Ethnographic Text - Isabella Palange, U of Wisconsin-Madison

• East European Folktale and the Novels of Naomi Novik - Amina Gabrielova, Purdue U

• The Vampire in Aleksei Tolstoy’s 'The Family of the Vurdalak' and 'Упырь' as an Ambivalent Marker of Slavic Identity - Erin M. Collopy, Texas Tech U

Discussant

• Margaret Hiebert Beissinger, Princeton U