Perspectives on Contemporary Legend

During the summers of 1982,1983 and 1984, the Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language at the University of Sheffield organised three symposia entitled quite broadly Perspectives on Contemporary Legend. These were attended not only by scholars from the British Isles but also by participants from Europe and North America and were therefore in that sense truly international. For a number of reasons, mostly economic, the number of legend scholars gathered on these occasions was comparatively small, and since there was a considerable overlap in participation, the total number of participants did not exceed three dozen. For those who were able to get to Sheffield, especially for those who had the good fortune to attend more than one symposium, the small size of the circle of those involved proved to be a tremendous boon since almost every participant had an opportunity to read a paper or at least to contribute extensively to the many discussions for which there was ample time. Lack of pressure also facilitated an intensity of personal involvement which is so rarely possible at larger conferences. What was a decided advantage for the participants has, on the other hand, been a severe disadvantage to any attempts to communicate the findings of these symposia to other legend scholars and to students of folk-narrative at large. At several other folklore conferences which I have attended since 1982, it has been very apparent—or so it seemed to me—who was a 'Sheffielder and who was not, for, without foolishly claiming that there have been any universally acceptable solutions offered, it can be said with conviction that considerable progress was made on these three occasions, progress reflected in the thinking and writing of the participants but not yet brought to the notice of those who were prevented from attending. The last thing one would wish to create in a field so much in need of co-operation rather than competition would be a 'camp' of scholars with idiosyncratic, almost private, views. A first step in the direction of communicating some of the 'results' of the first two symposia was a panel discussion conducted at the Eighth Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research in Bergen (June 12-17,1984) by scholars who had participated actively in the 1982 or 1983 symposia, or both; and