The Critics and the Ballad (Arcturus Books Paperbacks) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809306476 ISBN 13: 9780809306473

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1973

Synopsis

A book of readings has long been needed to supplement the many col­lections of ballads on the market. The essays included in this volume have been carefully selected to make available in one volume many of the basic studies that previously lay widely scattered in the journal literature. They offer the reader a clear view into major areas of ballad scholarship, introduce him to the latest ideas in the field of folksong, and give him an insight into ballads that goes far beyond amateur enthusiasm and entertainment. All the essays are written by internationally recognized authorities, and in each case have become standard statements of the particular thesis they argue.

 

All the essays deal with theory—i.e., with ballad origins, variation, transmission, artistic atmosphere, and music and meter. Each essay is, in the opinion of the editors, important and at the same time difficult for students and seriously interested amateurs to locate. No effort has been made to in­clude materials that are presently in wide distribution or deal with the more technical aspects of ballad scholarship.

About this title

About the Author:

MacEdward Leach, Professor of English at the University of Pennsyl­vania, is an internationally known medievalist and folklorist. He has been Secretary-Treasurer of the American Folklore Society for twenty-five years.

 

Tristram P. Coffin is Associate Professor of English at the University of Penn­sylvania and a specialist in the ballad. His published works include The Brit­ish Traditional Ballad in North America and Ancient Ballads Traditionally Sung in New England (with Helen H. Flanders and Bruno Nettl).

Review:

This is a well-planned book, and the ed­itors have included among their selections many necessary and/or interesting and important articles. It admirably fills two functions: for the scholar it is a conven­ient gathering of articles (many of them difficult of immediate access) and for the students a survey of the modes of ballad criticism.” Midwest Folklore

They [the essays] furnish an invalu­able introduction to ballad criticism, and they also provide very good re-reading of the individual essay, not only for itself but as seen in the perspective of time, theme, and theory.” Journal of International Folk Music Council

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 0809306476
• ISBN 13: 9780809306473
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Leach MacEdward, Coffin Tristam P.