This book is among the very few publications offering to the English-speaking readership significant insights into contemporary Lithuanian folklore research. Dealing with a broad variety of materials-from archived manuscripts to audio-recorded life stories to internet folklore-it comprises such topics as history and identity; the traditional worldview influencing modern people's actions; the construction of the mental landscape; types and modes of storytelling; and the modern uses of proverbs, anecdotes, and internet lore. In a balanced way reflecting upon past and present, tradition and modernity, individual and collective, and employing modern research methodologies to dissect and analyze popular subjects and themes, this book presents a condensed view of the popular Lithuanian culture and mentality.

Lina Bugiene is a researcher in Lithuanian traditional and contemporary folk narratives, oral history, and folk belief. She is the author of over two dozen scholarly articles and co-author of two edited collections (in Lithuanian) on local identity and folk memory.