The Castrated Boy

’ Another Contribution to the Psychoanalytic Study of Urban Legends

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8934541
AutoresMichael P Carroll (0000-0002-7027-4985, Western University, autor correspondente)
Ano1987
Volume98
Fascículo2
Páginas216-225
Data de publicação1987-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoFolklore (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.1987.9716416
OpenAlexW2041366020
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas5

OVER the past decade folklorists have increasingly turned their attention to the study of urban legends.' These are stories which circulate widely in industrialized societies, which are believed to be true by those who pass them on, which are usually localized in a place familiar to the teller, and which-upon investigation-almost always prove impossible to verify. A good many of them seem to be told as much for entertainment as anything else, and books and articles on them have proved to be extremely popular with the general public. One of the most popular and enduring of all urban legends, however, is one that is hardly entertaining. On the contrary, anyone who has collected it (myself included) knows that it is associated with a considerable amount of quite evident anxiety among those who believe it. The urban legend in question is the story of 'The Castrated Boy' (hereafter referred to simply as the CB story). Texts of the CB story can be found in a variety of sources, but the basic story goes like this

Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Sociology · American and British Literature Analysis · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Psychology · Themes in Literature Analysis