Contemporary Legends N Slovenia
Contemporary Legends N Slovenia
Contemporary Legends N Slovenia
Folklore 70 245
Book Reviews
The author turns special attention to the synchronic and diachronic migration of
motifs in contemporary legends as well as to the reality and beliefs. His findings are
predictable: most of the motifs are to be found in different cultural and language areas.
Contemporary legends travel through time and place, through languages and different
places of identifications, and therefore both synchronic and diachronic migrations are
extremely vivid.
In the second part of the book, titled “Contemporary Legends in Slovenia: Examples
with Interpretation”, Kvartič puts material into focus. Considerable attention is devoted
to interpretation as a process of finding the meaning, which also gives us a deeper in-
sight into the culture and underlines the characteristics of the contemporary legend:
they change and adapt to concurrent history and chaotic social environment much
faster than other folklore genres. He presents the material of contemporary legends,
that was collected during fieldwork, and categorizes it by themes: The Vanishing Hitch-
hiker, Trickster in Contemporary Legend, The Failed Stag Party, The Couple Caught
in Flagrante Delicto, Tourist Experience, Foreigners/Other in Contemporary Legends,
etc. In all the themes Kvartič aims to find variations, a general motif, rationalization of
legends, localization of the migration motif, and socio-historical context.
As a finalizing conclusion, Kvartič states that contemporary legends constitute
a source for never-ending research – not only because of their huge variety but also
because they change and adapt the stories to the context.
Contemporary legends were neglected in Slovenian folkloristics for a long time;
therefore, this book, with its strong theoretical and highly professional approach, fills in
a big gap in Slovenian folkloristics. But not only that – the book is also highly inspiring
and interesting for a wider readership as the language the author has used is very fluent
and vivid, with many examples and outlines of stories. Due to its good theoretical insight
into the scholarship of the subject, it also provides valuable support to all researchers
of contemporary legends and contemporary folklore in general.
Saša Babič
246 www.folklore.ee/folklore