Melville Jacobs

A Look Ahead in Oral Literature Research

THE FIRST ADVANCES in the knowledge of oral literatures during the nineteenth century witnessed an especial intensity of interest in the collection of legends from Europe to India. Principal motivations were the impulses to collect stories that had not earlier been written down, to display some of their similarities and differences from district to district across Eurasia, and to attempt to determine where they came from, how and where they had spread, and how they had changed as they traveled. Professional folklorists are much more familiar than I am with the

Morphology of the Folktale

Preface to the Second Edition Introduction to the Second Edition Introduction to the First Edition Acknowledgements Authors Foreword I. On the History of the Problem II. The Method and Material III. The Functions of Dramatis Personae IV. Assimilations: Cases of the Double Morphological Meaning of a Single Function V. Some Other Elements of the Tale A. Auxiliary Elements for the Interconnection of Functions B. Auxiliary Elements in Trebling C. Motivations VI. The Distribution of Functions Among Dramatis Personae VII. Ways in Which New Characters Are Introduced into the Course of Action VIII. On the Attributes of Dramatis Personae and their Significance IX. The Tale as a Whole A. The Ways in Which Stories Are Combined B. An Example of Analysis of a Tale C. The Problem of Classification D. On the Relationship of Particular Forms of Structure to the General Pattern E. The Problem of Composition and Theme, and of Themes and Variants F. Conclusion

VLAVIANOS, BASIL J., and FELIKS GROSS (Eds.). Struggle For Tomorrow: Mod ern Political Ideologies of the Jewish People. Pp. 303. New York: Arts, Inc., 1954.

ties. But its candid insistence on the atomistic character of Catholic organization in America is a point well worth making, and one too often ignored. The essays fall into two classes: discussions of the general relation of the Church to modern society and discussions of the place of the Church (or of religion) in various countries and regions. Thus, there is an excellent discussion of the present tendencies in European Protestantism as well as admirable studies of the Catholic situation in Germany and France. One novel essay is that by Professor Fitzsimons on &dquo;The Catholic Church in England&dquo; which is of especial interest for America where the situation is in some ways so like, in others so unlike. On two minor points, I am inclined to quarrel a little with Professor Fitzsimons. I think that

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abbots of Ely in acquiring lands between 970 and 1020, which &dquo;in virtue both of its magnitude and its rapidity, must have had major social consequences.... The work which was done in a brief half-century endured for near six hundred years.&dquo; A chapter on &dquo;The Old English Estate and the Norman Conquest&dquo; gives vividly an indication of what the change to a new order could bring. Naturally the survey of 1086 must be relied upon, and we know more than we otherwise could without it &dquo;if the words of Domesday Book mean what they say....&dquo; We are, however, not always sure they do. A chapter on &dquo;The Medieval Estates of the Bishops of Ely&dquo; will attract the specialist, but one devoted to &dquo;The Peasantry&dquo; deserves a wide circle of readers. After reading this essay few could retain faith in oversimplified clich6s of text-books, for Miller demonstrates incontestably how lines of social status were vague, indeterminate, overlapping, and confused, rather than the clearly marked delimitations that are the lawyers’ delight. &dquo; ’Omnes homines aut liberi sunt aut servi,’ Bracton would say; and that would be true enough in the eyes of the law. But the law, and especially a law so