In our high-tech, consumerist culture, traditional folklore has found itself revived in an eclectic mix of popular works from B-movies, TV shows, and superhero comics to pulp novels and supermarket tabloids. With a strong emphasis on narrative and very little reliance on aesthetics, these forms of popular entertainment have often defied analysis. "The Bosom Serpent" fills this gap by revealing the pervasive similarities between traditional folklore motifs and our contemporary forms of amusement. By examining a variety of works and genres from classic fairy tales to supermarket tabloids, "The Bosom Serpent" demonstrates that today's popular art is no more (or less) than the sort of unpretentious narrative entertainment human beings have always craved - tall tales dressed up to fit the concerns of the time.