In recent years, the assumption that traditional songs originated from a primarily oral tradition has been challenged by research into 'street literature' - that is, the cheap printed broadsides and chapbooks that poured from the presses of jobbing printers from the late sixteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. Not only are some traditional singers known to have learned songs from printed sources, but most of the songs were composed by professional writers and reached the populace in printed form. Street Ballads in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and North America engages with the long-running debate over the origin of traditional songs by examining street literature's interaction with, and influence on, oral traditions.
- ISBN10 1138269476
- ISBN13 9781138269477
- Publish Date 25 November 2016 (first published 4 July 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Routledge
- Format Paperback
- Pages 306
- Language English