Fortean Dramaturgy?

BillEllis, professor of folklore at Penn State University, discussed the problems of collecting 'urban legends' in an article in Fortean Times, December 1996. Recognising that academics tend to subscribe to a position of abstract knowledge, he wonders whether their investigations into what people believe are frequently undermined by the application of a patronising 'objectivity'.

For years, a legend was a story that the teller believes in, but which the collector knows is objectively not true.

Going on to discuss certain conspiracy theories popular with African Americans, Ellis suggests that while the objective truth of these might be debatable, recognising them as myth reveals other truths about deeper beliefs of the teller while acting as an effective method of transferring information across a community.

The words myth and legend are often used interchangeably, referring to stories that are not scientifically or historically verifiable. But if 'legend' refers to stories exaggerated or made up, myth is simply 'a story with meaning': a metaphorical or social 'truth' is contained within its narrative.

Ellis doesn't use these terms, or refer to art. However, the idea of a fictional narrative being developed in order to contain information is shared by his understanding of urban legends and the process of artistic creation. Folklore could be a handy category for art that sits outside of the traditional structures of aesthetic canon.

Featuring in a magazine that consciously rejects sceptical scientism and thereality tunnels of the believer, Ellis pleads for a more circumspect attitude to truth, and rejects the ideal of informed academics patronising their subjects. The kinds of things that urban legends discuss – he uses the example of a ghost – can open up conversations about experience, and even offer insight into social values and anxieties.

There is a parallel in Lem's novel Solaris. The astronauts, trying to work out the ontology of a planet, are forced to examine both the scientific readings and the various strange tales that have come from subjective observation. It is these oddities that the planet's nature are revealed.