Coyote Wisdom (Publications of the Texas Folklore Society

by J. Frank Dobie (Editor), Mody Coggin Boatright (Editor), Harry H. Ransom (Editor)

This especially substantial folkish son-of-a-gun stew concocted by J. Frank Dobie and associates is distinguished by a wide variety of materials, ranging from the simplest recording of single items, like anecdotes, folk remedies or sayings, through the skillfully retold primitive legend, to the scientific, though quite idiomatic, anthropological report, and to the scholarly analysis of the philosophy of the folk. The theme and hero of the volume, Old Man Coyote, is animal and folk character. Indian legends are well represented in Coyote Wisdom , a Publication of the Texas Folklore Society.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Called the "Storyteller of the Southwest," James Frank Dobie was born in 1888 on his family's cattle ranch in Live Oak County. During his long life, J. Frank Dobie would live astride two worlds: a rugged life on a Texas cattle ranch and the state's modern centers of scholarly learning.

Dobie came to Austin in 1914 to teach at the University of Texas. In time he pioneered an influential course on the literature of the Southwest. By the late 1920s, Dobie discovered his mission: to record and publicize the disappearing folklore of Texas and the greater Southwest. Dobie became secretary of the Texas Folklore Society, a position he held for 21 years.

J. Frank Dobie Dobie was a new kind of folklorist—a progressive activist. He called for UT to admit African-American students in the 1940s—long before the administration favored integration. Dobie's vocal politics led to his leaving the University in 1947, but he continued writing until his death in 1964, publishing over twenty books and countless articles.

The inscription on Dobie's headstone in the Texas State Cemetery reads: "I have come to value liberated minds as the supreme good of life on earth." J. Frank Dobie was not content to simply preserve Southwestern heritage within libraries and museums. He gave life to that heritage and informed generations of Texans about their rich history.

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I especially liked the part of the book covering the prairie wolf (coyote) the rest is only mildly interesting.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dobie has put together a collection of short stories by various authors about the coyote. The tales describe the animal as a wiley trickster that is different from the cartoon animal.