Description
Just exactly where do we find the supernatural in the contemporary world? It's both pervasive-everywhere-and specific-a particular somewhere. Otherworldly traditions and stories still spread through oral narration. They pervade mass media and the digital world and often form the stuff of hypermodern folklore-the stew of folk, popular, consumer, and digital culture that constitutes much of contemporary life. People also imbue specific places-from the local haunted house or cemetery to whole towns or cities-with supernatural manifestations or significance.
Putting the Supernatural in Its Place explores zombies, vampires, witches, demented nuns, mediums, and ghosts in their natural (and unnatural) habitats while making sense of the current ubiquity of the supernatural on the Internet, in movies, tourism, and in places like New Orleans. This unique study of how we locate the supernatural sheds light on why certain sites and their stories captivate us. It demonstrates how pondering the supernatural can bring a better understanding of the places we create and inhabit.
About the Author
Jeannie Banks Thomas is a professor at Utah State University, USA where she is head of the Department of English. Her many publications include Featherless Chickens, Laughing Women, and Serious Stories, which received the Elli Koengas-Maranda Prize, and Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore (2007), coauthored with Diane Goldstein and Sylvia Grider, which won the Brian McConnell Book Award in legend studies.
Reviews
"A fine collection of articles exploring the tension between the ethereal and the firmly local in supernatural folklore. The scholarship is up-to-the-minute, and the approach is engaging enough to invite any reader fascinated by allure of the inexplicably spooky."-Erika Brady, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of American Folklore "This book is a feast."-Association for Mormon Letters "Brings together a number of different perspectives on the relationship between contemporary legend scholarship and place, exploring the ways in which the hypermodern world is examined through localized encounters with the supernatural. These essays could find a valuable place in a course on contemporary legend or American folklore."-Journal of Folklore Research "A welcome addition to the corpus of folkloristic studies of belief and the supernatural. It will prove especially useful for upper-level undergraduate or graduate seminars on the topic of the supernatural, while specific chapters may be of interest to scholars working in such areas as fan studies, new media, film studies, Japanese studies, and tourism studies."-Western Folklore
Book Information
ISBN 9781607814498
Author Jeannie Banks Thomas
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint University of Utah Press,U.S.
Publisher University of Utah Press,U.S.
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm
Putting the Supernatural in Its Place explores zombies, vampires, witches, demented nuns, mediums, and ghosts in their natural (and unnatural) habitats while making sense of the current ubiquity of the supernatural on the Internet, in movies, tourism, and in places like New Orleans. This unique study of how we locate the supernatural sheds light on why certain sites and their stories captivate us. It demonstrates how pondering the supernatural can bring a better understanding of the places we create and inhabit.
About the Author
Jeannie Banks Thomas is a professor at Utah State University, USA where she is head of the Department of English. Her many publications include Featherless Chickens, Laughing Women, and Serious Stories, which received the Elli Koengas-Maranda Prize, and Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore (2007), coauthored with Diane Goldstein and Sylvia Grider, which won the Brian McConnell Book Award in legend studies.
Reviews
"A fine collection of articles exploring the tension between the ethereal and the firmly local in supernatural folklore. The scholarship is up-to-the-minute, and the approach is engaging enough to invite any reader fascinated by allure of the inexplicably spooky."-Erika Brady, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of American Folklore "This book is a feast."-Association for Mormon Letters "Brings together a number of different perspectives on the relationship between contemporary legend scholarship and place, exploring the ways in which the hypermodern world is examined through localized encounters with the supernatural. These essays could find a valuable place in a course on contemporary legend or American folklore."-Journal of Folklore Research "A welcome addition to the corpus of folkloristic studies of belief and the supernatural. It will prove especially useful for upper-level undergraduate or graduate seminars on the topic of the supernatural, while specific chapters may be of interest to scholars working in such areas as fan studies, new media, film studies, Japanese studies, and tourism studies."-Western Folklore
Book Information
ISBN 9781607814498
Author Jeannie Banks Thomas
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint University of Utah Press,U.S.
Publisher University of Utah Press,U.S.
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm
