1985, ISBN: 9780335150663

Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Very Good with No dust jacket as issued. (1985). First Edition. Softcover. 0335150667 . No signatures. Some rubbing to ends of spine.; xviii, 297, [3… Mehr…

Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Very Good with No dust jacket as issued. (1985). First Edition. Softcover. 0335150667 . No signatures. Some rubbing to ends of spine.; xviii, 297, [3 (blank)] pages. Page dimensions: 228 x 149mm. "What is a 'folksong'? What is a 'ballad'? Aren't they those songs which are sung in folk clubs, or get taught to children at school - simple, unaccompanied tunes, with words about country life, seafaring, love and perhaps the odd one dealing with mills, mines and masters? Well, yes that's what 'folksongs' are to most people today, but these commonsense ideas have a very long and a very strange history. For almost three centuries, arguements have been raging amongst collectors, editors and singers about where these songs come from, who made them, what they really meant and what relevance they are today. Now and again that argument surfaces, as part of the general debate about working people's history and culture, and more and more people believe that it is important to find out as much as we can about how our ancestors experienced life - what they felt, thought and believed. The problem is that when historians examine the tens of thousands of songs which appeared in print and were collected by generations of antiquarians, scholars and folklorists, they find that it is very hard to be sure about what, precisely, this evidence represent. So songs get used to embellish chapter-headings in the history books, or are inserted apologetically as an 'illustration' of what the vast majority of the population may, have felt or thought." - from the Introduction, page ix. Contents: Editorial Preface; Introduction; Part 1 - Two Centuries B(efore) C(hild); Part 2: Francis James Child and the 'Ballad' Consensus; Part 3: Cecil James Sharp and the 'Folksong' Consensus; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index. ., Open University Press, 3<