The Selected Writings of Andrew Lang. Volume 2. Folklore, Mythology, Anthropology: Case Studies

138 Pages·2017·0.774 MB·English

by  Andrew Lang

THE SELECTED WRITINGS OF
ANDREW LANG
THE PICKERING MASTERS SERIES
THE SELECTED WRITINGS
OF ANDREW LANG
The Pickering Masters Series
Edited by
Tom Hubbard
Associate Editor
Celeste Ray
Volume II
Folklore, Mythology, Anthropology
Case Studies
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Editorial material and selection © 2017 Tom Hubbard; individual owners
retain copyright in their own material
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lang, Andrew, 1844–1912, author. | Hubbard, Tom, Dr. editor. |
Ray, R. Celeste, assistant editor.
Title: The selected writings of Andrew Lang / Tom Hubbard, editor;
Celeste Ray, assistant editor.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2017– | Series:
The Pickering masters series Contents: Volume 1. Folklore, Mythology,
Anthropology (General and Theoretical)
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021686 (print) | LCCN 2016038981 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138763036 (vol. 1) | ISBN 9781138763043 (vol. 2) |
ISBN 9781138763050 (vol. 3) | ISBN 9781848931480 (set) | ISBN
9781315537740 (Vol. 1) | ISBN 9781315537726 (Vol. 2) | ISBN
9781315537696 ( Vol. 3) | ISBN 9781315537672 (Set)
Classification: LCC PR4876 .A4 2017 (print) | LCC PR4876 (ebook) |
DDC 828/.809—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021686
ISBN: 978-1-8489-3148-0 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-1387-6304-3 (Volume II)
eISBN: 978-1-315-53772-6 (Volume II)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Publisher’s Note
References within each chapter are as they appear in the original complete work
Volume II: Folklore, mythology, anthropology
Case studies
Note on the texts vii
Introduction to Volume II ix
Folklore, mythology, anthropology 1
‘The Aryan races of Peru’, Macmillan’s Magazine, 1873 1
Review of Charles Deulin, Contes du roi Gambrinus, The Academy, 1874 4
‘The Folk-Lore of France’, Folk-Lore Record, 1878 7
‘The early history of the family’, Custom and Myth, 1884, revised 1885 13
‘Anthropology and the Vedas’, Folk-Lore Journal, 1883 27
‘The “Kalevala” ’, in his Custom and myth, 1884, 1885 33
‘In the wrong paradise’, in his In the wrong paradise, 1886 45
‘On books about red men’, in his Letters on literature, 1889 49
‘The wonders of Mexico’, in his The true story book, 3rd edn., 1893 53
‘Cinderella and the diffusion of tales’, Folk-Lore, 1893 57
‘Irish Fairies’, Illustrated London News, 1893 69
‘A creelful of Celtic stories’, Blackwood’s Magazine, 1898 72
‘The ballads, Scottish and English’, Chambers’s Cyclopedia of
English Literature, vol. 1, 1903 81
‘Notes on ballad Origins’, Folk-Lore, 1903 89
Introduction to Australian legendary tales, K. Langloh
Parker (ed.), 1894 91
Introduction to The Euahlayi tribe, K. Langloh
Parker, 1905 94
v
‘The Alcheringa and the all father’, Revue des études
ethnographiques et sociologiques, 1909 100
Introduction to Folk stories of Southern Nigeria, Elphinstone
Dayrell, 1910 106
‘The poltergeist mystery: Andrew Lang discusses phenomena
which occur everywhere’, New York Times, 1910 112
vi
NOTE ON THE TEXTS
Andrew Lang was prolific, and his work is best served by judicious selection.
Omitted parts of the texts are indicated in the usual manner by three dots within
square brackets. A hazard of literary journalistic output is repetition, and we have
pruned where we could, though it was not always possible, in some cases, where
there was a risk of disrupting Lang’s argumentative flow.
As far as possible Lang’s punctuation has been respected, but light editing of
minor inconsistencies has been undertaken, as and when required. Footnotes and
epigraphs have been omitted in view of their limited interest and disruption of the
flow of the main texts.
In the choice of texts, as well as aiming at a wide representation of Lang’s inter-
ests in the fields covered by this project, we have been guided by aesthetic crite-
ria – that is, to showcase Lang’s prose style at its most imaginative and readable.
Volumes I and II are arranged chronologically, so that readers can obtain an
idea of Lang’s intellectual development as his career progressed, but this is offset
by a more thematic grouping where this was felt to be more helpful than strict
chronological sequence.
Lang is so allusive that endnotes to supply basic information would have
engulfed the project; in an age of search engines, it should be possible for readers
to follow up relevant references as and when they wish. Those endnotes which
we have provided are minimal and are intended to be encouraging of intellectual
curiosity rather than informational, i.e they follow up a point not central to the
preceding text (that is the function of the headnotes, which precede each text in
italics) but which is still of some interest. A small number of baffling allusions that
would not be readily searchable are, however, explained in endnotes.
vii