The Truth about Tall Tales

Podcast-style audio course - 24 Topics
Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
Gettysburg College
Audio Download + Subscription
$0.00
Audio Download + Subscription
$0.00
Audio Download + Subscription
$0.00
Audio Sample:

What can we learn about our culture from the stories we tell? Join master presenter Christopher Fee to learn what our heroes and monsters—both real and imagined—have to tell us about who we are as Americans.

American folklore is as vibrant and diverse as Americans themselves. Some tales offer embellished accounts of real historical figures, and in others, figures are invented to serve a cultural or commercial purpose. Often didactic and always fantastic, in one way or another these tales help us make sense of the world.

Join Christopher Fee, coeditor of An Encyclopedia of American Myth, Legend, and Folklore, for an entertaining and revealing look at the cast of characters that color our nation’s folkloric imagination. In this compelling 24-lecture audio series, you’ll meet figures such as Daniel Boone and John Henry, and learn the stories of characters such as Water Jar Boy and the Woodcutter and the Fairy. Specters also abound, and you’ll encounter frightening figures ranging from the Headless Horseman to La Llorona.

Having explored traditional f

What can we learn about our culture from the stories we tell? Join master presenter Christopher Fee to learn what our heroes and monsters—both real and imagined—have to tell us about who we are as Americans.

American folklore is as vibrant and diverse as Americans themselves. Some tales offer embellished accounts of real historical figures, and in others, figures are invented to serve a cultural or commercial purpose. Often didactic and always fantastic, in one way or another these tales help us make sense of the world.

Join Christopher Fee, coeditor of An Encyclopedia of American Myth, Legend, and Folklore, for an entertaining and revealing look at the cast of characters that color our nation’s folkloric imagination. In this compelling 24-lecture audio series, you’ll meet figures such as Daniel Boone and John Henry, and learn the stories of characters such as Water Jar Boy and the Woodcutter and the Fairy. Specters also abound, and you’ll encounter frightening figures ranging from the Headless Horseman to La Llorona.

Having explored traditional forms of folklore, myth, and legend in America, you will turn to new storytelling methods, and discuss the more recent development of genres such as conspiracy theory, urban myth, and “fakelore.” Finally, you will conclude by discussing how these kinds of stories represent a search for deeper truths, which suggests why American folklore still matters so much to so many.

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Christopher R. Fee is an expert on medieval literature. He is currently Professor of English and the Chair of the English department at Gettysburg College, where he served as the Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities from 2008 to 2011. Named one of the 300 best professors in America by the Princeton Review, Dr. Fee has received a variety of honors, grants, and fellowships for his teaching and research.

Dr. Fee has written numerous articles and given presentations and lectures around the world. His books include Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain; Mythology in the Middle Ages: Heroic Tales of Monsters, Magic, and Might; The Goddess: Myths of the Great Mother; and Arthur: God & Hero in Avalon. Fee is also editor of the Encyclopedia of American Myth, Legend, and Folklore and the Encyclopedia of Conspiracies & Conspiracy Theories in American History. Prof. Fee earned his Ph.D. in English Language at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he was a postgraduate tutor in topics including Old English, Old Norse, and historical linguistics. He is also a frequent visiting faculty member at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen.

Praise for Professor Chris Fee

“Chris Fee is one of the best teachers I’ve ever met. His knowledge of the Middle Ages, and of the Vikings, is exhaustive. I have learned so much from him, and I know all of the listeners will too.”
– Dr. Joshua Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Adjunct Associate Professor of Humanities at Rice University

“Chris Fee is a tremendously engaging speaker—energetic, organized, and clear. As his students and colleagues in the academy know, Fee is deeply learned, but he wears his learning lightly. You couldn’t ask for a better guide to the ancient world of Northern Europe.”
– Stephen Harris, Ph.D., Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

 

  • The Truth about Tall Tales: An Introduction to American Folklore
  • American Icons & Historical Folklore
  • From Daniel Boone to Davy Crockett: Folklore of the American Frontier
  • Washington Irving & American Literary Folklore
  • Tall Tales From Mike Fink to Pecos Bill
  • Myths of the Mountain Man: From Jim Bridger to The Revenant
  • Tales from Tombstone: Outlaws and Heroes of the Old West
  • Advertising as Folklore: Paul Bunyan & Big Timber
  • From The Star Woman to The Earth Diver: Native American Folklore
  • Chupacabra, La Llorona, and Hispanic American Folklore
  • From John Henry to Stagolee: African American Folklore
  • The Woodcutter to Chinatown Ghost Stories: Asian American Folklore
  • Ethnic, Vocational, and Regional American Heroes
  • American Yuletide Folklore
  • Jack o’ Lanterns, Trick or Treating, and American Halloween Folklore
  • Ghost Stories as Folklore
  • Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and Monsters of American Folklore
  • From the Amityville Horror to Gravity Hill: The Folklore of American Places
  • American Fakelore and Hoaxes
  • Urban Myths as Folklore
  • Honest Abe, Camelot, and the Folklore of American Tragedy
  • From Faked Moon Landings to Fake News: Conspiracy Theories as Folklore
  • Mythbusters, “Ghosthunters,” and Modern American Pop-Lore
  • Why American Folklore Still Matters

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