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‘…A Big Grey Wolf came out of the Forest’

  • 12/03/2024
  • 18:00-19:30
  • online talk

François Grenier de Saint-Martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petits_Paysans_surpris_par_un_loup.jpg

‘…A Big Grey Wolf came out of the Forest’

A Folklore Society online talk by Dr Juliette Wood (Cardiff University)

Tuesday 12 March 2024, 18:00 GMT

This talk examines traditional folklore, both ancient and modern, relating to wolves, and their canid cousins – dogs, foxes, and coyotes.

‘…A Big Grey Wolf came out of the forest’: This phrase from Prokofiev’s classic symphonic fairytale heralds the entrance of one of the world’s best-known predators. Wolves and their cousins – dogs, foxes, coyotes, and other canids are found everywhere except Antarctica.

Traditional narratives and visual images provide a way of relating to these creatures, and wide-ranging cultural attitudes characterize as everything from pests to moral threats on the one hand, or god-like beings and tricksters on the other. Contemporary interest in conservation and ecology has resulted in a re-thinking of our relation to the natural world. This has presented fresh challenges in understanding wolves and other wolf-like animals. This lecture examines some traditional attitudes towards wolves and their canid cousins, but also shows how folklore has provided new imaginative resolutions to their place in the environment.

Juliette Wood, MA, PhD., MLitt is an American folklorist who teaches at Cardiff University. She specializes in Celtic and Medieval history, magic, and folklore. She is a former president of the Folklore Society who has studied at University of Pennsylvania, Aberystwyth and Oxford University and has provided expert consultation for television and radio on Celtic and medieval folklore, mythology and magic.

Tickets £6.00 (£4.00 for Folklore Society Members with the Promo Code–log in to the Members Only area at https://folklore-society.com/members-only/ to get the promo code): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-big-grey-wolf-came-out-of-the-forest-tickets-793767338477?

Every ticket sold helps to support the work of The Folklore Society

Image credit: François Grenier de Saint-Martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petits_Paysans_surpris_par_un_loup.jpg