Urban Legends and Cyberlore
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
- OR one of the podcasts listed hereLink opens in a new window
- OR the
Link opens in a new windoRequired Reading and Listening
Blank, Trevor J., 'Introduction: Pattern in the Virtual Folk Culture of Computer-Mediated Communication', in Trevor J. Blank, ed., (Logan, UT, 2012), pp. 1-24.
Davies, Owen, and Ceri Houlbrook, (Manchester, 2025), EITHER Chapter 11 OR Chapter 12.
- EITHER the blog of the
- OR one of the podcasts listed hereLink opens in a new window
- OR the
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, , Folklore 134/4 (2023), 439-61.
Hing, Richard, et al., eds, Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd 2: Spirits of Place (Durham, 2019)
Kalmre, Eda, , trans. Kait Tamm and Alexander Harding (Amsterdam, 2013)
- Krawczyk-Wasilewska, Violetta, (艁贸dz, 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)
脫 Gioll谩in, 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.