Böcker av Gail de Vos

A comprehensive and entertaining collection of urban legends from around the world, with a history and analysis of the origin of each tale, compiled by a leading authority in the field.A rich and unique collection of folktales and urban legends from around the world. Each story comes with an accompanying brief note to provide context. Including new tales reflecting new concerns; old tales repurposed for new audiences and new ways of telling. The collection illustrates that these stories are now alive across many new media. This is the first such popular book to bring together stories with both traditional and digital media origins and to examine how the phenomenon of social media has affected both the spread of urban legends and their very nature.Features the uniquely modern manifestation of folk mythology and legend, now made ubiquitous by the internet; the conspiracy theory.Includes urban legends such as: The Pickled Hand, The Babysitter, The Sandman.Includes conspiracy theories such as: Wild Fires, Fifteen Minute Cities and Organ Theft.40% of the stories originate in North America, 30% in Europe, 20% in Asia, 10% in Africa and elsewhereThe book also shows how stories spread and change from the country of origin to become global.

This fascinating book uncovers the history behind urban legends and explains how the contemporary iterations of familiar fictional tales provide a window into the modern concerns-and digital advancements-of our society.What do ghost hunting, legend tripping, and legendary monsters have in common with email hoaxes, chain letters, and horror movies? In this follow-up to Libraries Unlimited's Tales, Rumors, and Gossip: Exploring Contemporary Folk Literature in Grades 7-12, author Gail de Vos revisits popular urban legends, and examines the impact of media-online, social, and broadcast-on their current iterations.What Happens Next? Contemporary Urban Legends and Popular Culture traces the evolution of contemporary legends from the tradition of oral storytelling to the sharing of stories on the Internet and TV. The author examines if the popularity of contemporary legends in the media has changed the form, role, and integrity of familiar legends. In addition to revisiting some of the legends highlighted in her first book, de Vos shares new tales in circulation which she sees as a direct result of technological advancements.

Citing numerous critical interpretations and commentary, this book offers great insight into this genre of popular folk literature. After an introduction to the form and its place in history, the author explores various types of ballads (e.g., child ballads, border ballads, broadside ballads).

After a fascinating overview and discussion of contemporary legends (commonly referred to as modern urban legends and often told as true), de Vos examines them in their relationship to rumors and gossip, ostension (acting out the legends), the role of the media in formulation and dissemination, and related tales (e.g., literary horror tales).

Hundreds of story suggestions are organized by theme within broad genre categories: Tales of the Fantastic, Tales of the Folk, Tales of Life, Tales of the Spirit, Tales of Laughter, and Tales of the Arts and Sciences.