On the mediation of Folklore in the Cultures of South-Eastern Europe

Abstract

For a long time, oral folklore has been the centre of interest and research of folklorists, although more recently in the 20th century, orality was hardly the dominant form of communication and has given way to other forms of mediation which have led from print media, to radio and television, and ultimately to digital media. The main stages of this development and its impact are presented in this article and illustrated with examples.
It was not until the 1970s that folklorists began to address the question of the relationship between written folklore and oral tradition. Can written texts still be regarded as folklore at all? This question was answered affirmatively: The link between oral literature and recorded text persists; attending to the choice of words, metaphors, narrative techniques, the combinations of subjects and the uses of general places, the hidden potential and beauty of improvisation can be felt.
Since the second half of the 19th century, new forms of folklore have spread, alongside revolutionary marching songs and partisan songs, and narrative texts of city folklore: Tails, anecdotes and jokes. Many of them are still orally spread today.
Since the 20th century, new forms of communication have been added to the written forms of tradition in folkloric creation: Press, radio, film and television, and at present the Internet are the central media of everyday communication and everyday storytelling. Internet communication poses new questions to folklorists and shows the need to systematically examine the forms and results of communicating folklore via the Internet.