The Grateful Dead History of a Folk Story Gerould 2000 Illinois Folklore Study

by Gordon Hall Gerould

$42 · Offered by eBay

Gordon Hall Gerould's The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story, published by the University of Illinois Press in 2000 as the first Illinois paperback edition, with a new introduction by folklorist Norm Cohen. First published in London by David Nutt in 1908, this is the study that mapped one of the oldest and strangest story patterns in European folklore: the tale of a young traveler who spends his own money to bury the corpse of a stranger, and is then joined on the road by a mysterious companion who helps him win a fortune, a kingdom, or a bride. The companion is the dead man, repaying the debt. It is the motif that gave a San Francisco band its name six decades later. Gerould worked through more than a hundred versions of the story across Europe and the Near East, sorting them by theme and combination and tracing how the tale fused with other motifs: the poison maiden, the ransomed woman, the water of life, the spendthrift knight, the two friends, the thankful beasts. His chapter structure is still the standard framework for anyone working on the type. Extensive bibliography, index, and dense source notes referencing Aarne-Thompson classification, the Grimms' Anmerkungen, and Bolte and Polivka. This is the book that established the comparative method underpinning modern folklore scholarship, and it has been cited continuously for over a century. Norm Cohen's introduction sets Gerould in the context of the discipline he helped build. 216 pages, printed on acid-free pap

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2000
• ISBN: 9780252068829
• Condition: Good

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