Abstract
Abstract Urban legend as a genre in Poland is described by folklorists and anthropologists using interchangeable terms: not only “urban legend” but also “unlikely story,” “sensation story,” “contemporary myth,” “rumor,” “hearsay,” “exciting piece of news,” and “urban tale.” Each of these names reflects specific, prominent characteristics that are constitutive of the genre: an unusual topic, an urban issue or background, or contemporaneity. The aim of this chapter is to present Polish urban legends as a genre of folklore informed by form, diction, the narrator, the audience, communication context (circumstances, time, and place), subject matter, function, purpose, performance, and the ontology of the world that is depicted. Urban legends are meaningful, relevant narratives of an apocryphal nature that address the boundaries between truth and fiction and mirror social, political, and economic conditions in contemporary society. Examples of Polish urban legends serve to illustrate these points.
Published Version
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