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@paulcowdell@hcommons.social cover
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paulcowdell

@[email protected]

I research (library & field), write on, & talk about folklore. Am proud to have been described as an 'expert in morbid eschatology' and a 'cannibalism celebrity'.

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paulcowdell , to boeken
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Book Challenge: 20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers. Alt text!

Day 2 /20


@lesekreis
@boeken
@bookstodon

paulcowdell , to boeken
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Probably not a great time to start this, as I'll be on the move for a large part of the next fortnight, but...

Book Challenge: 20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers. Alt text!


@lesekreis
@boeken
@bookstodon

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Cheering myself up that this is now showing as live on the publisher's website:
https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/6566-moebius-media

@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Well, this now exists in hard copy and I'm very excited. The rest of the issue looks good, too.

My article is Open Access, but even so you should consider joining @folkloresociety to support its publication.


@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Just tooted this, but should perhaps say why: a good piece by an excellent folklorist who writes a lot on folklore and humour. His stuff's worth checking out.

https://theconversation.com/an-homage-to-the-dad-joke-one-of-the-great-traditions-of-fatherhood-231996
@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

This is perhaps a rather niche little article on the history of and , but it's been so long in the making (for some not great reasons) that I'm inordinately proud to see it out at last. Seriously, its long journey started on Kalevala Day 2013...
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/0015587X.2024.2320036
@folklore

paulcowdell OP ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@Printdevil @folklore Thank you so much for reading. I realised, late on in the publication process, that even in this instant and frenzied world our work as folklorists is all the better for those personal engagements and negotiations, which aren't all immediate.

stina_marie , to horrorbooks
@stina_marie@horrorhub.club avatar

Day 17 challenge: Choose 20 that greatly influenced you. One per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers

@bookstodon @horrorbooks @horror

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@Shanmonster @stina_marie @horrorbooks @horror @bookstodon Please tell me you ended up not being 100% sure you'd read the pages in the right order. That'd be perfect.

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Looking forward to next week's online talk on 'Reinventing National History through Conspiracy Theories' by Dr Afrodite-Lidia Nounanaki of the University of the Aegean.

https://folklore-society.com/event/re-inventing-national-history-through-conspiracy-theories/ @folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Wildly excited to have a chapter in this forthcoming collection on the . I've written on , which means I've used DW as a way of writing about reception of and disciplinary history and thinking.

UP Colorado is doing a 40% preorder discount, promo code in the flier.

@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Hopla! New issue of , the journal of the Folklore Society, has just landed on the mat. Ice cream vans, Chinese contemporary legends, goblins, Celtic new year, obscene gestures... What's not to love?

@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Coming back from the first (of three), wildly exciting, in-person meeting of the 11-month AHRC research network I'm Co-I on. Fizzing with ideas, which in my exhaustion are still keeping me moving. I'm so excited I think the network deserves its own hashtag:

The network aims to understand how to embed greater equality, diversity, and inclusion within UK . It hosts an international knowledge exchange on folklore theory, method, and creative and curatorial practices. The network is focused on the UK and is already underway.

@folklore

paulcowdell OP ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@folklore If anyone wants more info about feel free to drop me a line

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

might be defined as the study of the arts and traditions of everyday life. The rest is commentary. That commentary, however, is likely to prove extensive.

It's difficult to describe just how much I get from reading Elliott Oring.
@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

I'm no paremiologist, but everything about this is splendid. A more than richly deserved festschrift for the great (and very nice) Wolfgang Mieder.

https://naklada.ffos.hr/knjige/index.php/ff/catalog/view/18/23/47 @folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Delighted that this is now published (open access) in TFH: The Journal of Folklore and History. It started life as a 90th birthday present for the great Jacqueline Simpson, and hopefully hasn't lost too much of the spirit that motivated it in the first place.

https://journals.psu.edu/folklorehistorian/article/view/17/17

@folklore

paulcowdell OP ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@pdcawley @folklore
The title was teasing homage, and I have got into the article just what a joy it was to get a laugh out of her in a conference paper. The best jokes in it are hers, of course.

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Terrific tin whistle conference/event coming up in March. Note that the CfP is still open for a couple of days
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/public-engagement/alex-green-whistle-festival-728.php#The%20Conference
@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

have extended the CfP for their Digital conference. Details here: https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/digital-folklore-conference-call-for-papers/
@folklore

gutenberg_org , to random
@gutenberg_org@mastodon.social avatar

"Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh;
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky."
Now the Day Is Over

Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist Sabine Baring-Gould died in 1924.

He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers", and "Now the Day Is Over". He also translated the carols "Gabriel's Message", & "Sing Lullaby" from Basque to English.

Sabine Baring-Gould at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1766

Title page of Songs of the West by S. Baring-Gould, F. W. Bussell, and H. Fleetwood Sheppard

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@gutenberg_org The next Traditional Song Forum meeting features an introduction to Baring-Gould's collecting by Martin Graebe, author of an excellent book on the subject and pretty much the go-to guy about it.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tsf-online-meeting-60-tickets-785275107987
@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Well. The British government is finally ratifying the UNESCO Convention on ICH. I've always had reservations about it (conceptually, not least), but this is extremely interesting news for .
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/oh-no-it-isnt-panto-set-to-be-formally-recognised-as-uk-joins-unesco-convention @folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

This is a great loss to the world. was one of the towering figures of the discipline, and her work remains essential and accessible.

During my PhD, one of my informants told me he'd read a brilliant book on belief but couldn't remember the title offhand. I got home to his email asking 'Gillian Bennett's Traditions of Belief - do you know it?' Yes, I did (I've all but worn my copy smooth), and I admired his taste.

I was struck at the recent AFS conference just how many eminent US scholars wanted to talk about British and specifically asked after Gillian.

I never met her in person, but we worked closely together on a award judging panel. She was typically brilliant and insightful, but wholly supportive and welcoming. I treasure a copy of 100 Best British Ghost Stories that she randomly and kindly sent me on publication.

My thoughts are with her family.

https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/dr-gillian-bennett-1939-2023/
@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

The Society still have tickets available for this online talk tomorrow:

Ribbons, Flowers and Locks: a Review of some Contemporary Practices

George Monger looks at ribbons, floral tributes, love-locks and other customary practices which came to prominence in the 20th century.

Details and tickets available here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ribbons-flowers-and-locks-a-review-of-some-contemporary-practices-tickets-732882570497

@folklore

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

This network will interest many of my colleagues @folklore
https://cambridgefairytalenetwork.wordpress.com/

paulcowdell , to folklore
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

Blimey, look at that for a shortlist! This is the intense and intensely brilliant shortlist for this year's Katharine Briggs Award from the . Winner to be announced 7 November...

https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/the-katharine-briggs-award-2023/
@folklore

DocCarms , (edited ) to bookstodon
@DocCarms@mstdn.social avatar

There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better.

Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in English):
“It is inevitable — the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”

What are some of your favorite opening lines in literature? 😊
@bookstodon

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@DocCarms @bookstodon

Even in her own genre the claim seemed ... implausible. And outside of it, well.

Julian Barnes's Metroland:

There is no rule against carrying binoculars in the National Gallery.

lunalein , to bookstodon
@lunalein@federatedfandom.net avatar

@bookstodon folks, do you listen to audiobooks? If so:

  • Do you have favorite narrators? Or the opposite? Ever started or quit listening to something because of the voice?
  • if you’re talking about a book, do you say you’ve read it?

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@lunalein @bookstodon
I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks (I've got the voices going internally when I read), but I'll definitely pick up something read by an actor whose work/voice I love, especially in poetry. (Listening to the Richard Burton readings of Dylan Thomas when I was a teenager probably shaped this).

So I've recently got hold of the abridgement of Paradise Lost just for Anton Lesser's reading, and an abridgement of Malory's Morte d'Arthur for the wonderful Philip Madoc. And Jim Norton reading James Joyce. I've read all of these, and the Malory's the least significant to me as a text.

And sometimes I've tried listening to a wonderful voice, great actor and given up because the material wasn't doing anything for them either. The extraordinary Michael Jayston, whom I could watch in anything, seemed to record some rather boring books.

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@JMaverickJacks1 @lunalein @bookstodon I've just seen a boxset of CD readings of the Bond novels by Rufus Sewell, with Samantha Bond doing The Spy Who Loved Me. That was really tempting, even though I'm not particularly interested in revisiting the books.

paulcowdell ,
@paulcowdell@hcommons.social avatar

@JMaverickJacks1 @lunalein @bookstodon I don't regard them as audiobooks, because they were radio dramatisations, but to my ear the greatest audio Holmes/Watson are the BBC adaptations with Clive Merrison (Holmes) and Michael Williams (Watson). Well worth a listen.

Not so good as captures of Conan Doyle, but highly recommended for lovers of Great Voices, are a few Holmes/Watson radio adaptations done in the '50s with John Gielgud (slightly miscast) as Holmes and Ralph Richardson. Richardson, particularly, was extraordinary.

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