Review: London Urban Legends October 22, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Medieval, Modern , trackback
Scott Wood, London Urban Legends
Urban legend junkies are perhaps the most attractive of all folklorists. Their brethren get obsessed with the minutiae of traditional culture: polkadots on dresses, superstitions about dandruff, dance rhythms… Alternatively, men and women of advanced years (who should know better) plunge into subjects that defy understanding, that are actually about not understanding: ghosts, fairies and things that go bump in the night. The marvelous thing about those who specialize in what is, sometimes rather snootily, called contemporary legends is that they are not interested in truth, but by the permutations of untruth.
Did a friend of a friend (the foaf) of yours really sit next to a dead woman on the tube; did the architect of that magnificent building really commit suicide once he had finished because of a foolish error; are there really griffins living and feasting off dead dogs in a London borough…? The answer is, of course, ‘no’. But watch how the story seeps through the generations changing with technology and social mores, while remaining essentially the same. Forget motif indexes and paleolithic myths: The study of urban legends is the closest scholars have yet come to the essence of storytelling.
Why focus on London? Well, anyone who knows the place will not be surprised. Perhaps Europe’s one really convincing city, ten million and counting and until recently capital of a world empire, ‘the old smoke’ has a lot of interesting historical leaf mould for tales to grow in. There are yarns about Boudicca being buried at King’s Cross station in the generation after Christ; and, more recently, there are the myths of Jack the Ripper and Springheeled Jack. Even the most freshly-minted legends constantly hark back to the London that was: the marvelous farragoes about plague pits disturbing suburban ease.
As to the author Beach heard Scott Wood talk a couple of years ago and was entertained by a list of London urban legends. He was possibly, though, put off reading London Urban Legends, which sat on his shelf for too long, because he expected more of the same: cute presentation, little analysis. Instead the book is the best kind of urban legend guide: and there are many bad urban legend collections out there… It entertains and then explains. The author is witty and there is that complete and necessary cynicism about humanity’s ability to transmit truth: something familiar to anyone who knows Jan Brunvand’s works.
To be recommended and here’s something on the ravens of the Tower and a review of Boria Sax’s work on the same for anyone’s who has actually read London Urban Legends, one bit of the book which is perhaps worth slightly disagreeing with.
Beach is always on the look out for good urban legend books: drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com
