Proverbs

Overview

Proverbs offer a concise record of folk wisdom and have appeared in oral tradition, literature, art, and popular culture for centuries. Written by the foremost authority on proverbs, this reference gives high school students, undergraduates, and general readers a concise yet comprehensive overview of proverbs in world culture. The volume begins with definitions and classifications of proverbs, followed by discussions of several notable examples. The book then examines approaches to the study of proverbs and the ...

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Overview

Proverbs offer a concise record of folk wisdom and have appeared in oral tradition, literature, art, and popular culture for centuries. Written by the foremost authority on proverbs, this reference gives high school students, undergraduates, and general readers a concise yet comprehensive overview of proverbs in world culture. The volume begins with definitions and classifications of proverbs, followed by discussions of several notable examples. The book then examines approaches to the study of proverbs and the place of proverbs in literature, politics, popular songs, and everyday life. It closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources and a glossary. Included are numerous illustrations.

Just about everyone has heard at least one proverb, and most people have heard more. Proverbs offer a concise record of folk wisdom and have appeared in oral tradition, literature, art, and popular culture for centuries. One of the most varied and fascinating types of folklore, proverbs are studied at all levels and are of interest to a wide range of audiences. Written by the foremost authority on proverbs, this reference gives high school students, undergraduates, and general readers a concise yet comprehensive overview of proverbs in world culture.

The volume begins with definitions and classifications of proverbs and a discussion of their origin and dissemination. It then discusses several representative proverbs from around the world. This is followed by a review of scholarship on proverbs. The book next looks at how several proverbs have appeared in political speeches, literature, popular culture, and everyday life. The handbook closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources and a glossary. Included are numerous photos illustrating the role of proverbs around the world.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780313326981
  • Publisher: ABC-Clio, LLC
  • Publication date: 6/1/2004
  • Series: Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Series
  • Pages: 322
  • Product dimensions: 6.14 (w) x 9.21 (h) x 0.75 (d)

Meet the Author

WOLFGANG MIEDER is Professor of German and Folklore at the University of Vermont. His many books include A Dictionary of American Proverbs (1992), Proverbs Are Never out of Season (1993), The Proverbial Winston S. Churchill (Greenwood, 1995), The Politics of Proverbs (1997), and numerous others. He is also the editor of Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship.

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Table of Contents

Introduction xi
1 Definition and Classification 1
Definition Attempts 2
Proverb Markers and Meanings 4
Origin and Dissemination of Proverbs 9
Traditional Forms Related to the Proverb 13
The International Type System of Proverbs 16
Types of International Proverb Collections 20
Major Anglo-American Proverb Collections 22
Various Specialized Proverb Collections 25
Selected Bibliography 29
2 Examples and Texts 33
"Big Fish Eat Little Fish": A Classical Proverb about Human Nature 34
"First Come, First Served": A Medieval Legal Proverb from the Millers 43
"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree": A Proverb's Way from Germany to America 52
"The Only Good Indian Is a Dead Indian": A Slanderous Proverbial Stereotype 60
"Good Fences Make Good Neighbors": An Ambiguous Proverb of Relationships 69
"A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words": An Advertising Slogan Turned American Proverb 79
Proverbs from Different Cultures and Languages 88
Authentic American Proverbs 100
Regional American Proverbs 106
Native American Proverbs 108
African American Proverbs 112
Selected Bibliography 114
3 Scholarship and Approaches 117
Proverb Journals, Essay Volumes, and Bibliographies 118
Proverb Collections and Future Paremiography 121
Comprehensive Overviews of Paremiology 125
Empiricism and Paremiological Minima 127
Linguistic and Semiotic Considerations 131
Performance (Speech Acts) in Social Contexts 133
Issues of Culture, Folklore, and History 135
Politics, Stereotypes, and Worldview 137
Sociology, Psychology, and Psychiatry 139
Use in Folk Narratives and Literature 142
Religion and Wisdom Literature 144
Pedagogy and Language Teaching 146
Iconography: Proverbs as Art 148
Mass Media and Popular Culture 150
Selected Bibliography 153
4 Contexts 161
"A Man of Fashion Never Has Recourse to Proverbs": Lord Chesterfield's Tilting at Proverbial Windmills 162
"Early to Bed and Early to Rise": From Proverb to Benjamin Franklin and Back 171
"Behind the Cloud the Sun Is Shining": Abraham Lincoln's Proverbial Fight Against Slavery 180
"Conventional Phrases Are a Sort of Fireworks": Charles Dickens's Proverbial Language 189
"Make Hell While the Sun Shines": Proverbial War Rhetoric of Winston S. Churchill 198
"Man Is a Wolf to Man": Proverbial Dialectics in Bertolt Brecht 207
Benjamin Franklin's "The Way to Wealth" 216
Proverb Poems and Popular Songs 224
Proverbs in Caricatures, Cartoons, and Comics 236
Proverbs and the World of Advertising 244
Proverbs as Headlines and Slogans 250
Bibliography 257
Bibliographies 257
Proverb Journals 258
Major Proverb Studies 259
Multilingual Proverb Collections 266
Bilingual Proverb Collections 269
Anglo-American Proverb Collections 272
Regional and Thematic Proverb Collections 275
Web Resources 279
Glossary 281
Index 285
Names 285
Subjects 290
Proverbs 295
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