Gene Bluestein - Poplore Folk and Pop in American culture

"Poplore is wonderful. A very sensible new word; Bluestein's analysis makes sense. Two centuries ago the word 'folklore' made sense, describing the traditional culture of the peasant class, 90% of the population. In these industrial-technology ridden times, it's better to use a new word that to try to make an old one fit."―Pete Seeger

"The book's thesis and presentation are strong. Its important argument augments the push on the New Historicists and corrects a log of nonsense about the purity of the folk."―W. T. Lhamon, author of Deliberate Speed: The Origins of Style in the American 1950s

From the Back Cover

In this innovative study, Gene Bluestein proposes that we revise our ideas about the meaning of folklore in the United States, beginning with our definition of what is 'folk' and what is not. To this end, he advances the notion of 'poplore' as more accurately reflective to the popular and commercial roots and dynamic, syncretic traditions of American democratic culture.

Gene Bluestein is a folk performer and professor emeritus of English and American studies, California State University at Fresno. His books include The Voice of the Folk: Folklore and American Literary Theory, published by the University of Massachusetts Press.