Proverbs: A Handbook

by Wolfgang Mieder

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313326981
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/2004
Series:	Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Series
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

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.

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 Turbaned 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 Jourbanals, 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 Jourbanals
Major Proverb Studies
Multilingual Proverb Collections
Bilingual Proverb Collections
Anglo-American Proverb Collections
Regional and Thematic Proverb Collections
Web Resources
Glossary
Index