The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings

I wanted to learn more about the analysis of folktales and hear some urban legends. I guess what I expected from the modern folklore scholars was more than they provide. I thought much of the "analysis" wasn't a sober and extensive study of the particular tales or motifs, it read more like an undergraduate paper, just coming up with highly cherry-picked ideas about how the stories might fill one's own pre-existing narratives. It felt really amateurish, especially considering many of the dumb observations made.There was a HUGE feminist slant in many of the chapters, even by today's standards, at every turn he had to see how women were victims of society, not individual victims of the specific localized calamity in the story, but when men were victims the author said not a peep about exploitation or broader societal views of men. I had to read about how a woman who tends the house instead of working is akin to slavery and exploitation (though no mention of the guy in that relationship that goes to work everyday breaking his back to pay the bills). Teenage girls that babysit are not working an easy job to get money while doing their homework and watching t.v., they are being trained for this doomed life of being a domestic servant....c'mon! And in a story where both man and woman are humiliated, it's a big deal that the women were humiliated, but not the men. In stories where men are injured or killed, we have to hear about how it was a mistake of his wife that caused it, so women are oppressed in those stories, but no concern about how the men in the stories were injured or killed.It's like a self-centered child wrote the analysis, desperate to support their point despite more evidence to the contrary being right in their face. Some of it is the author's, some of it he cites from other authors. I expected something like Sabine Baring-Gould's analysis, or even Joseph Jacobs or Alfred Nutt, not this simplistic and biased tripe. If this is academic literary analysis then that's sad. Real academics can't write about how glaciers are sexist and get it published in a garbage journal (that happened in real life, by the way), so they can keep their university job and continue collecting public funds to make our kids less wise. To be fair, there likely are good literary scholars too, but I never read about them, every time I read about literary analysis I hear some of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life.It also made me doubt the validity of the folklorist's work on tracking down the origin of tales. I read a Katherine Briggs book from the 1960's that talked about a story where a family goes to Mexico with grandma, grandma dies in the car, then when they make a stop the car is stolen, along with grandma's body. This same story and slight variants of it were discussed in this book as well. What irks me is that Briggs and this author, both folklorists and university professors, still act like the story popped up from no where in the 1960's and immediately spread all over the world, to their astonishment. But neither mentioned it was in an Alfred Hitchcock episode from the late 1950's!!! And this book was almost a couple decades later than Brigg's book, he has no excuse here. None of their dozens of sources from around the world mentioned seeing it on this popular t.v. show? None of their hundreds of university students over the years said, "Oh yeah, I saw that on an Alfred Hitchcock episode from the '50's..."? None? That's bull. I think that since it was on t.v. they just ignored that part of the tale's history. And remember, back then there was no internet, there was 3 main t.v. stations, no cable, and that was a popular show..... of course that was the reason it showed up all over the world in a span of a few years, because it wasn't originally spread word-of-mouth! Either they ignored data about the source or they did such scant research that it wasn't uncovered. So if you think you're getting even close to the full-story of these tales, think again.The author did give a good little few page guide about how to properly collect folklore, which is cool. He also did mention some urban legends unknown to me, but he didn't discuss that many in general. If you're looking for urban legends, or analysis on the meaning of them I suggest looking elsewhere.Not every story is secretly making a statement about class, gender, race, oppression, privilege, etc., many stories are about mystery, suspense, a good fright, humor, bonds of love, etc., and the "deeper analysis" is just about the analyzers own prejudices, narratives and oppression fantasies.

Jan Harold Brunvand's "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" is the first of several books he has published which take a scholarly look at Urban Legends. Where did these legends start, how have they evolved to fit a new time or situation. Urban Legends are interesting stories, as you will find people who are swear that they happened (usually not to them, but to a friend or a relation or a relation of a friend, etc.), and you can even find cases where they are reported as happening. They can be based on something which really happened, or something which never have happened, but regardless, their spread and retelling takes on a life and purpose of its own.The first chapter of the book deals with all the foundational information. What are "Urban Legends"? How should they be interpreted? Brunvand uses "The Boyfriend's Death" legend to help explain the phenomena and how they are studied. By far this is the most important chapter of the book, as this is then the material the reader will use on the majority of the rest of the book.Chapters 2 through 7 are all about the legends, broken into groupings such as Automobile, Teenage Horrors, Contaminations, the dead, kind of a catchall he titles "Dalliance, Nudity, and Nightmares, and then finally two favorite media legends. Chapter 8 then looks at urban legends in the making, where he looks at legends which never take off into the population as a whole (or haven't yet), or have gone into a period of inactivity, etc.This is a good introduction into the study of Urban Legends. My negatives are all on the writing style of the book, and not the content. The presentation could have been much more accessible and interesting. While that may not matter as far as the quality of the information is concerned, it would have helped bring more people to a point where they can appreciate the topic and the significance of studying these stories.

Let me begin by saying that I am not someone who enjoys reading. I was required to purchase this book for a class. With that said, I actually enjoyed reading this. It was interesting to see the variations on different urban legends, and even learn some new ones. There were several that I knew one form of, but did not realize had morphed from an earlier variation. The book is written as an informative piece, more like a textbook than a story. The chapters are set up to be for one or two legends each, and can include multiple variations of those legends. Each legend has an explanation of where it was first heard, and even what could be considered a historical reasoning for its existence. I found it interesting to follow the evolution of an urban legend through time.I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror stories or science fiction. This is more of a historical view of both, but you will realize that many films take these urban legends and twist them to fit their own plot. Very interesting book for a non reader.Pros:Informative.Interesting.Good separation of legend to legend.Cons:Sometimes too informational.

Excellent book, written by a renowned expert in modern American folklore. I took a University class from his colleague & it was one of the most fascinating classes I’ve ever taken. I found this book equally fascinating. All information is professionally cited yet it’s easy & intriguing reading!

Enjoyed this book. These kinds of stories have always fascinated me. This was not a problem for me but the information covered only goes through the 1970's so some may consider this dated.

I really liked the book, but thought that each story could've used a few less comparisons to other versions and could've used a few more other urban legends. Otherwise it was a really good read.

As descrbed. Shipped quickly !

Really interesting book,

アメリカの民俗学者のブルンヴァン氏が著した都市伝説を研究する古典です。都市伝説を学ぶ人のためのテキストと言っても過言ではないと思います。20世紀のアメリカ人に語られていた有名な都市伝説およびそのバリエーションが収録されています。話の源、共通点などについてもいろいろな調査が行われました。正直に言えば、私の母国でも類似の伝説が多数存在していますので、興味深く読みました。いずれにせよ、この本が２０年前に出版されたものです。陳腐な考え方も少なくありません。近年、ブルンヴァン氏は都市伝説の世界を立ち去ったような感じがします。新作もなさそうですね。少し残念です。

書籍の状態も表記通りで、郵送方法も良く何の問題もありません。