Singers and Storytellers Page: 56
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Folklore and History
AMERICO PAREDES
Address to the American Folklore Society
And the Sociedad Folkl6rica de Mexico,
Mexico City, December 28, 1959.
"PAST EVENTS, it is argued, have no objective existence, but
survive only in written records and in human memories." Thus
did Winston Smith read in the forbidden book of Oceania, in
George Orwell's novel 1984. It was Winston Smith's job to
change documents according to Oceanic policy, so that history
became the fiction demanded by the needs of the moment.
This was accomplished by tampering with documents. The
memories of men were of small concern because, unsupported
by recorded evidence, men's memories change.
Many a folklorist would agree in principle with the Inner
Party rulers of Oceania. The mention of folklore and history
in the same breath is an anomaly. The human mind preserves
the memory of rituals, of psychological states and dreams, of
responses to the environment. But it forgets events. Folklore
is the last place one should go in search for anything that
resembles history.
It is not my purpose here to enter into the sorely argued
question about the birth of folklore. I wish to approach folklore
as something already alive and kicking. For the purposes of
this paper I would like to define it as oral tradition in periodic
contact with a more complex, literate society. The British56
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/62/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.