The Handbook of Folklore

by Charlotte Sophia Burne

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: Folklore

374 pages, Paperback

Published October 27, 2022

Reviews

[MisterFweem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think if I were Welsh, this book might offend me -- because Charlotte Burne constantly refers to the Welsh as she writes about "lower races" and the cutesy little bits of folklore they follow.

But no matter. Though written in 1911 -- I have to remind myself of this; it's from a different era -- the book is a deeply satisfying guide to human folklore, and a must-read for people who want to create their own folklore as they write stories, novels and such. Every writer should have a copy of this book on his or her bookshelf, because in it Burne outlines the basics of folklore in an accessible, easy to fathom format that can work as a handy guide for writers.

Additionally, this is a wonderful book for amateur cultural anthropologists who might wonder why Burne isnt' bothering to study the folklore of the -- to use her phraseology -- "higher" races, because it's not only the primitives who have folklore.

[Durga Joshi]

very good