The journal Estudos de literatura oral, published at the Universidade do Algarve in southern Portugal, has devoted a special double issue to the memory of the Spanish folklorist Julio Camarena (1949-2004). After an introductory note by the journal’s editor, Isabel Cardigos, the issue presents three depoimentos, or memorial notes, on Camarena by José Manuel Pedrosa, Carlos González Sanx, and Camarena’s collaborator, the French scholar Maxime Chevalier. A bibliography of Camarena’s works follows. Camarena was an independent scholar who authored five books on traditional stories from Spain, plus two that have not yet been published, and twenty-five articles on the same general subject matter. In addition to that, Camarena collaborated with Maxime Chevalier from the University of Bordeaux in the publication of a four-volume Catálogo tipológico del cuento folklórico español, which appeared between 1995 and 2003.
After the first part, this issue of Estudos de literatura oral includes sixteen articles by different folklorists, organized alphabetically by author. Eight articles situate particular stories in an international context: the “daughter of the sea,” the biblical story of Joseph (by Camarena himself), a story of adultery turned into a children’s game, the tale of Aladdin, AT type 311, the “grateful dead,” the contest to be the first to see the sun rise, and Snow White. Three articles deal with the ballad or popular song traditions (Galician, Castilian, and French, respectively). And five articles present either addenda to the Camarena/Chevalier typological catalog or theoretical issues: a reflection on the meaning of variant vs. version in folktales, towards a theory of Portuguese jokes, and a definition of the opponent in folktales according to opposition with the hero.
An appendix closes the volume. Written by Camarena and Chevalier, the appendix proposes new types for religious tales and novellas in their own Catálogo. The volume’s editor, Cardigos, translated the appendix into English.
The articles are written in the languages accepted by Estudos de literatura oral: Spanish (6 articles), Portuguese (3, plus one in Galician), English (3), Catalan (2), French (1). Each article is followed by a resumo, or abstract, in at least two languages, one of them being English. Some of these abstracts tend to be more introductory than comprehensive. All in all, this volume offers an excellent panorama of Iberian folkloristics and brings together the most distinguished scholars in that field.
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[Review length: 385 words • Review posted on June 21, 2007]