The Poetics of Getting Lost in Legends, Stories and Conversations

The series of publications "Studia humanitarica" by the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art has just published another valuable addition the scholarly monograph by Dr. philol. Sanita Reinsone "Apmaldīšanās poētika teikās, stāstos un sarunās" (The Poetics of Getting Lost in Legends, Stories and Conversations) Rīga: LU LFMI, 2017, 248 lpp.). The book is based on the dissertation defended by the author in 2012 at the University of Latvia. The book was prepared and published within the framework of the budget sub-programme No. 05.04.00 "Krišjāņa Barona Dainu skapis" (The Cabinet of Folksongs of Krišjānis Barons) of the Ministry of Education and science of the Republic of Latvia and with the support of State Culture Capital Foundation.

This book provides the first major study in Latvia on the theme of getting lost. Apart from the subject, it discusses such issues as the interaction of individual and cultural experiences in oral stories, the influence of the audience on the creation of stories, as well as the traditions of disbelief. However, the study has not been undertaken within narrow disciplinary confines, but rather extensive use has been made of the contributions of research disciplines that are, in one way or another, connected with the topic of getting lost, particularly theoretical approaches in literary studies, discourse analysis, narratology, sociolinguistics, linguistic and cultural anthropology and humanistic geography. Considering the specific nature of the experiences of getting lost, the study of stories about getting lost belongs to the current approach of narrative studies, but at the same time it also expresses the current interest within narrative studies and folklore research in the person and their individual and collective cultural experience. The discourse on getting lost reveals the interaction between the two forms of experience. Getting lost is an individual experience, presented in the story about the experience in close relation to the personality of the narrators and their world view. Whereas the collective experience is significant for understanding and explaining, revealing the common ideas that have developed over the course of time. These include telling you what to do when you’re lost, and helping to relate individual experience in such a way as to make it intelligible to others. The main source for the study consists of interviews with 71 informants. These were obtained in the course of fieldwork in the period 2002–2011 in Latvia.

Last time modified: 06.09.2017 15:52:54