My Account Wish List
Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR2698.aspx
All Greenwood Products
Proverbs A Handbook
Wolfgang Mieder
ISBN: 0-313-32698-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-32698-1
328 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 6/30/2004
List Price: $60.95 (UK Sterling Price: £42.95)
Availability:
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: 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.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
    Definition and Classification
    Definition Attempts
    Proverb Markers and Meanings
    Origin and Dissemination of Proverbs
    Traditional Forms Related to the Proverb
    The International Type System of Proverbs
    Types of International Proverb Collections
    Major Anglo-American Proverb Collections
    Various Specialized Proverb Collections
    Selected Bibliography
    Examples and Texts
    Big Fish Eat Little Fish A Classical Proverb about Human Nature
    First Come, First Served A Medieval Legal Proverb from the Millers
    The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree A Proverb's Way from Germany to America
    The Only Good Indian Is a Dead Indian A Slanderous Proverbial Stereotype
    Good Fences Make Good Neighbors An Ambiguous Proverb of Relationships
    A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words An Advertising Slogan Turned American Proverb
    Proverbs from Different Cultures and Languages
    Authentic American Proverbs
    Regional American Proverbs
    Native American Proverbs
    African American Proverbs
    Selected Bibliography
    Scholarship and Approaches
    Proverb Journals, Essay Volumes, and Bibliographies
    Proverb Collections and Future Paremiography
    Comprehensive Overviews of Paremiology
    Empiricism and Paremiological Minima
    Linguistic and Semiotic Considerations
    Performance (Speech Acts) in Social Contexts
    Issues of Culture, Folklore, and History
    Politics, Stereotypes, and Worldview
    Sociology, Psychology, and Psychiatry
    Use in Folk Narratives and Literature
    Religion and Wisdom Literature
    Pedagogy and Language Teaching
    Iconography: Proverbs as Art
    Mass Media and Popular Culture
    Selected Bibliography
    Contexts
    A Man of Fashion Never Has Recourse to Proverbs Lord Chesterfield's Tilting at Proverbial Windmills
    Early to Bed and Early to Rise From Proverb to Benjamin Franklin and Back
    Behind the Clouds the Sun Is Shining Abraham Lincoln's Proverbial Fight Against Slavery
    Conventional Phrases Are a Sort of Fireworks Charles Dickens's Proverbial Language
    Make Hell While the Sun Shines Proverbial War Rhetoric of Winston S. Churchill
    Man Is a Wolf to Man Proverbial Dialectics in Bertolt Brecht
    Benjamin Franklin's The Way to Wealth
    Proverb Poems and Popular Songs
    Proverbs in Caricatures, Cartoons, and Comics
    Proverbs and the World of Advertising
    Proverbs as Headlines and Slogans
    Selected Bibliography
    Bibliography
    Bibliographies
    Proverb Journals
    Major Proverb Studies
    Multilingual Proverb Collections
    Bilingual Proverb Collections
    Anglo-American Proverb Collections
    Regional and Thematic Proverb Collections
    Web Resources
    Glossary
    Index
About 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.
LCC Class: 389
PDF Catalogs:
Folklore and Folklife 2007.pdf
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2009 ABC-CLIO
130 Cremona Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93117 805-968-1911