Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook

Beginning of article

Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook. Edited by Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. xxxv + 515 pp.

Despite some lacunae due to the broad scope of the six- volume work, Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk Literature has certainly remained an invaluable and indispensable research tool for all students of folk narrative for half a century. Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy intend their handbook as an introduction to Thompson's monumental work while presenting "in-depth essays on a . . . motifs . . . of primary significance." After providing a historical overview of methods used in devising motif indexes and describing the structure of …