Books with author Richard M. Dorson

A preacher battles a bear, a mother returns from the dead, and a clever servant conducts a Big Feet Contest in this rich anthology of African-American folklore. Scores of humorous and harrowing stories, collected during the mid-twentieth century, tell of talking animals, ghosts, devils, and saints.The first part of the book provides a setting for the fables, in which folklorist Richard M. Dorson discusses their origins and the artistry of storytellers. The second part consists of the tales, which include the adventures of Old Marster and John, supernatural episodes, and comical and satirical anecdotes as well as more realistic accounts of racial injustice. Recounted in the actual words of the narrators, the folktales abound in bold language, memorable imagery, and bittersweet humor that reflect the essence of African-American storytelling traditions.

A preacher battles a bear, a mother returns from the dead, and a clever servant conducts a Big Feet Contest in this rich anthology of African-American folklore. Scores of humorous and harrowing stories, collected during the mid-twentieth century, tell of talking animals, ghosts, devils, and saints.The first part of the book provides a setting for the fables, in which folklorist Richard M. Dorson discusses their origins and the artistry of storytellers. The second part consists of the tales, which include the adventures of Old Marster and John, supernatural episodes, and comical and satirical anecdotes as well as more realistic accounts of racial injustice. Recounted in the actual words of the narrators, the folktales abound in bold language, memorable imagery, and bittersweet humor that reflect the essence of African-American storytelling traditions.

Folklore as it comes from the mouths of living storytellers has a matchless authority and conviction. Richard Dorson, living for five months among the Indians, Finns, Canadiens, Cornishmen, lumberjacks, sailors, miners, and sagamen of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, has listened to their tales, which this book reproduces with all their native thunder and salt. With this lively evidence he proves that America still has its myth-makers and purveyors of myth, who represent, both ethnically and historically, an enormous range of traditional oral folklore.We meet the Chippewa and Potawatomi Indians, who tell their own heroic versions of the wars with the white men, and whose chief delight is to relate the adventures of the folk hero, Winabijou. For them, as for the French-Canadians and Finns, magical beliefs have been part of their daily education and entertainment. Each group has its own version of European folk tales: the old fairy stories find new form as dragons are conquered with razors and soap, and giants talk in the idiom of the backwoods and pioneer towns.Some of these myths center around imaginary and semi-imaginary folk heroes; others spring from local politics, and even more from local occupations. The woods tales of lumberjacks, the tragic mysteries of the mines, the weird adventures on the Lakes, each kind of tale has its representative teller. Sometimes the raconteur's most exciting fables concern his own wonderful exploits―with women, drink, and wicked employers. Rooted deep in storytelling tradition, these tales hark back to the frontier and immigrant past of an America shaped by many peoples with extraordinary experiences.Mr. Dorson provides, in his introduction, a simple account of the idea behind the book and his methods of procuring the tales, in concise and closely written notes at the end of the book he furnishes annotations to the tales which should satisfy and stimulate every folklorist, professional or otherwise. Mr. Dorson did much of the fieldwork for this book under a Library of Congress Fellowship; he has also held a Harvard Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Faculty Study Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Imagine for a minute; a ghostly theater, a historic gunfight, a lawless oil boom, and a cast of scoundrels. Now add thirty brothels, characters such as H. L. Hunt—who got his start in Downtown El Dorado—some racy women, and finally sprinkle it all with gobs of money as a roaring 1920s oil boom swept over this little community of 3500 and blossomed it to 40,000 in 18 months. You’ll find an “OK Corral” gunfight, mules drowning in muddy streets, and yes, most importantly, you’ll find an old 1920s theater surrounding by numerous other old buildings.—and they’re all filled with spirits! Is Downtown El Dorado, Arkansas the most haunted town in the country?

Thanksgiving Day, 1944, Norphlet, ArkansasWell, I just know you ain’t gonna believe this in a million, million years, ’cause sometimes things like what happen to me and John Clayton just sound so plain outta this world, that nobody ever believes us. So, if you just throw back and laugh, I won’t blame you, ’cause nearly everybody does after they hears one of our stories. Shoot, wait’ll y’all hear about what happened last year. Follow the childhood adventures of Richard and his friend John Clayton as they uncover the Mystery in the Canebrake.Richard Mason - Author of The Red Scarf and The Yankee Doctor has been likened to Mark Twain in his ability to capture the innocence and adventure of youth.

Delightfully illustrated, this collection of Japanese myths and fairy tales presents readers with a rich folk tradition.Folk Legends of Japan contains of over one hundred Japanese folk legends. These have been selected by a distinguished American folklorist, drawn from expert Japanese transcriptions of oral legends, and carefully translated in such a way as to bring out the charming, unadorned, and sometimes disarmingly frank folk quality of the originals.Each legend is carefully annotated for the student, scholar, and a full bibliography is provided. Fortunately, the scholarly attributes of the book are now allowed to intrude between the general reader and his enjoyment of the legends themselves.Anyone who loves a genuine old wives' tales, who savors firelit evenings of listening to the folk stories will find much pleasure in these Japanese stories. At the same time the folklorist will find a mine of information, and the Japanophile will discover the folk basis for many of the beliefs and customs that may have puzzled him in the past.