Choice Review

The beauty of interdisciplinary scholarship is the possibility of novel contributions that enrich both fields. Rubin's merger of cognitive psychology and oral history clarifies and advances knowledge in both areas. The remarkable thing about children's rhymes and ballads is their consistency through multiple transmissions. This phenomenon stands in contrast to the loss of specifics in memory; errors in eyewitness testimony or the reduction to "gist" of memory for stories. The resolution presented here is in the multiple constraints of the material to be remembered. Thus, the remarkable memory for material, though impressive, is not beyond explanation. On the other hand, these constraints are not just meaning and imagery, as emphasized by contemporary cognitive psychology. Limitations imposed by rhyme and rhythm also play a very important role. These constraints can be applied more or less in parallel and account not only for the extensive memory of balladeers and the consistency of generations of children but also for the creativity in the genre of ballads and epics. This simultaneous application of multiple cognitive strategies is an important part of creativity as outlined by D.N. Perkins in The Mind's Best Work (CH, Feb'82). Rubin's book, nevertheless, stands on its own while inviting continued examination of other oral transmissions such as humor and urban legends. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty. P. L. Derks; College of William and Mary