When I first heard of the Folklore podcast, I decided to start from the first episode, which turned out to be on Slender Man. Intrigued, I googled the Contemporary Legends journal mentioned in the episode and found this book that was based on the journey/
Slender Man Is Coming is a collection of essays on the folkloresque figure of Slender Man, written by folklorists. The essays explore the concept of the folkloresque, ostensive practice, who believes in the figure, and much more. I appreciated that the collection included one critical essay by Mikel J. Koven, who seemed more sceptical of the importance of Slender Man in youth culture.
For me, the most helpful part of the book was how it explained folklore concepts through the case of Slender Man. Some terms I learnt include:
- Ostension: the practice of adding out a legend
- Reverse ostension: the process by which a narrative is formed through collective action
- Triviality barrier: when adults regard children and teenager’s self-directed activities as trivial
- Seven Rhetorics of Play: Ancient concepts: fate, power, community, identity, frivolity; more recent concepts: progress, self, imaginary
- Folkloresque: popular culture that resembles folklore
Of course, the entertaining part of the book was about Slender Man. Before this, the only non-fiction book about Slender Man that I had heard of was by Kathleen Hale (whom I’m still not reading), which means that I never really had the chance to explore this figure in a way that wasn’t via fiction. So I really enjoyed reading about how all these folklorists interpreted the figure of Slender Man and what they thought it meant about Internet/Youth culture.
And despite me not knowing much about the study of folklore, I found this book easy to follow. Most of the terms are defined as they appear and I thought the chapters tended to build on one another (it also helps that they reference one another) so I never really felt out of my depth.
This is a very niche book but I think one that will appeal to readers who are interested in folklore and/or internet culture. I’d definitely want to read more from the authors who contributed essays and learn more about folklore from them!
Featured Image uses one of the original slender man images from Victor Surge
This sounds well written. Great review!
Thank you, it was a very interesting book!
This sounds fascinating…may have to add it to the TBR.
I found it really interesting! I’ve heard of Slenderman but most internet posts tend to be taking part in the myth – it’s rarer (for me, anyway) to read from those who have taken a step back to examine the whole thing.
I remember years ago seeing a short article about Slenderman being the first internet-birthed folklore. I thought it was interesting then and this sounds like a much more in depth exploration!
I found it quite hard to find more meta-looks at Slender man, so this book was great for me! (And at least it’s not written by an author with a history of stalking reviewers!)
This sounds like a fascinating book… but I don’t think it’s for me 😅
It’s definitely not for everyone. I think it’s mostly for people who really love internet culture and folklore haha