Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Marcello Durante. Sulla preistoria della tradizione poetica greca. Parte seconda: Risultanze della comparazione indoeuropea. Incunabula Graeca, vol. 64. Rome: Edizioni dell'Ateneo.

Basically a comparison of AG an d Vedic Sanskrit usage and style to consider the nature of a common Indo-European precursor, this study assumes throughout an oral tradition as the medium for textual transmission. Recommends softening Parry's original hypotheses to allow for the evoluti on of diction and for individual poetic execution (e.g., pp. 90-104, including an OE/ON formula as comparison).
Area: AG, SK, CP

Linda Dégh. "Foreword: A Quest for Learning." Journal of Folklore Research, 20:145-150.

Pro vides an introduction to Ben-Amos, Belmont, Calame-Griaule and Görög-Karady, Calame-Griaule et al., Duvernay-Bolens, Labrie, and Tenäze with a review of the fieldwork and publications of the Oral Literature Research Group.
Area: FK

Heinrich Düntzer. "Über den Einfluss des Metrums auf den homerischen Ausdruck." Jahrbücher für classische Philologie, 10:673-94. Rpt. in Homer: Tradition und Neuerung. Ed. Joachim Latacz. Wege der Forschung, Band 46 3. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesell-schaft, 1979. pp. 88-108.

Shows via numerous examples how Homer used poetic license and morphological variation to maintain the "flow" of verse in meter. Categorizes Homer's word forms by parts of speech ; different qualities of heroes; adjectives modifying people, the earth, the sea, swords, and so on. Work by Düntzer (see also 1872) and Ellendt (1876) greatly influenced Parry's developing notion of the formula.
Area: AG

Heinrich Düntzer. Homerische Abhandlungen. Leipzig: Hahnsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.

Most influential on Parry were the four essays appearing on pp. 507-92, especially the reprint of "Über den Einfluss..." (pp. 517-65 = Düntzer 1 864).
Area: AG

Dafydd Evans. "La Formule épique et la datation des chansons de geste." In Société Rencesvals. Vle Congrès International (Aix-en-Provence, 29 Août-4 Septembre 1973). Ed. Jean Subrenat. Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence. pp. 273-86.

Studies the formulaic use of lanier as a noun and adjective, an element that occurs almost always in the second hemistich of the line and usually at the very end, in twelve chansons de geste. Sees this technique as a possible means of establishing relative chronology.
Area: OF

Helen Damico. Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Studies the treatment of Queen Wealhtheow in the Old English heroic epic Beowulf, emphasizing her archetypal qua lities and the thematic composition of the Wealhtheow passages of the epic, and paying particular attention to details of traditional diction in her description. Discusses numerous parallels in both pagan and Christian Anglo-Saxon poems.
Area: OE

Philip Damon. Modes of Analogy in Ancient and Medieval Verse. University of California Publications in Classical Philology, 15:261-334.

In Chapter 1 ("Homer's Similes and the Uses of Irrelevance," pp. 261-72), he explores the "i rrelevant" structure and content of the Homeric epiphoneme and, viewing it as a traditional usage, relates it to the frequently contradictory deployment of formulaic elements. In Chapter 2 ("Sappho's Similes and the Uses of Homer," pp. 272-80), he descri bes how Sappho fuses a traditional simile to a metaphorical pattern of her own design and thus embodies a Homeric conceit in a conscious figure.
Area: AG

Philip Damon. "Dilation and Displacement in the Odyssey." Pacific Coast Philology, 5:19-23.

Contends that the "Odysseus' scar" sequence in Book 19 belongs to a traditional pattern, one fully detailed by Propp and illustrated in the practice of the SC guslar Avdo Medjedovic. The pattern in question includes motif s of disguise, branding, recognition, and wedding. Book 24 similarly fulfills the expectations of a traditional audience.
Area: AG, SC, CP

Joseph A. Dane. "Finnsburh and Iliad IX: A Greek Survival of the Medieval Germanic Oral-Fo rmulaic Theme, The Hero on the Beach." Neophilologus, 66:443-49.

Denies the validity of the "Hero on the Beach" theme (as posited first in Crowne 1960), arguing that it amounts to a description forced upon the unrelated instances and that "the continuity of tradition, supposedly a conclusion, is in fact an assumption that precedes the search for evidence" (443). His method consists of comparing the Finn episode in Beowulf with Phoenix's speech in Book 9 of the Iliad and of seeing both as generate d by larger structures within each individual text rather than "merely fixed components of an autonomous theme in the baggage of an oral poet" (444). Polemics largely without rigor.
Area: OE, AG, CP

James Darmesteter. Chants pop ulaires des Afghans. Collection d'ouvrages orientaux, 2o sér. Paris: Ernest Leroux.

Linguistic and historical introduction followed by a section of the introduction on "la poésie populaire" of the Afghans. Actual songs take up th e greater part of the volume (historical, religious, romantic, and ritual in nature), appearing in French translation. Parry quotes from this work on the transmission of oral tradition from an experienced bard to a novice (1932: 330-31, n.2, rpt.).
Area: AN

Albert Daur. Das alte deutsche Volkslied nach seinen festen Ausdrucksformen betrachtet. Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer.

Understands the presence of formulas in Old Germanic poetry as a stylistic feature, part of t he Kunstsprache. Assembles a morphology of diction based on the function of formulaic phrases. An early study of patterned phraseology in the same critical tradition as, e.g., Sievers 1878, which gave birth to later kinds of formulaic analysis.
Area: OHG, MHG, GM

David Evans. "Techniques of Blues Composition among Black Folksingers." Journal of American Folklore, 87:240-49.

An examination of blues that contrasts black and white folksingers' techniques of learning and composing their material. Contends that the differences arise from variant musical heritage and are reinforced by the attitudes of singers and their audiences.
Area: BL, MU

David Evans. "Fieldwork with Blues Singers: The Unintentionally Induced Natural Context." Southern Folklore Quarterly, 42:9-16.

Reports on an extended field project with blues singers in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Describes the often frustrating work of locating singers uninfluenced by phonograph records and of recording their songs in a real context.
Area: BL, MU

Olga M. Davidson. "The Crown-Bestower in the Iranian Book of Kings." In Papers in Honour of Mary Boyce. Hommages et Opera Minora, 10. Leiden: E.J. Brill, pp. 61-148.

Part one is a diachronic study of the Indo-Europe an origins of the Iranian Shanama (Book of Kings); Part Two is a synchronic study of the epics's traditional formulaic structure.
Area: IR

J.A. Davison. "Die homerischen Gedichte und die vergleichende Literaturforschung des Abendlandes." Gymnasium, 61:28-36.

A history of the Parry-Lord oral theory, from the earliest precursive studies of Russian, Bulgarian, and Turkish folk poetry through an account of Parry's research and scholarship, with emphasis on Bowra's writi ngs. Suggests that the Homeric poems were performed by teams of rhapsodes and advises a carefully calibrated comparison of Homer and comparative oral epic.
Area: AG, CP

J.A. Davison. "Quotations and Allusions in Early Greek Litera ture." Eranos, 53:125-40. Rpt. in his From Archilochus to Pindar. London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press. pp. 70-85.

Examines six propositions on the history of AG literature, using as evidence Parry's writings on the poetic koin e and its formulaic possibilities (espec. Parry 1932).
Area: AG

J.A. Davison. "The Homeric Question." In A Companion to Homer. Ed. Alan J.B. Wace and Frank H. Stubbings. London: Macmillan. pp. 234-65.

A historic al digest of opinions on the composition, authorship, and date of the Homeric epics. Survey of ancient scholarship, with a particularly thorough discussion of Hedeli, Bentley, Blackwell, Wood, and Wolf, a description of the Analyst-Unitarian controversy, and a briefer account of more modern ideas.
Area: AG, BB

J.A. Davison. "The Transmission of the Text." In A Companion to Homer. Ed. Alan J.B. Wace and Frank H. Stubbings. London: Macmillan. pp. 215-33.

A history of the transmission of the Iliad and Odyssey, from the evidence of the poems themselves and the latter-day rhapsodes who performed them from fixed texts to the Alexandrians through Byzantine scholarship.
Area: AG

J.A. Davison. "Lite rature and Literacy in Ancient Greece." Phoenix, 16:141-56, 219-33.

Part I considers the implications of the coming of literacy from historical, social, and literary points of view. Sees the Homeric poems as written down either by the (oral) poet himself or by an amanuensis, while Hesiod is portrayed in part as a literate craftsman. Notes, however, in the later section that even in Hesiodic times the "public" nature of the poetry remained paramount; performance before an audience remained a cruc ial part of the process.
Area: AG

J.A. Davison. "Bebenaia I: Experiment at Tübingen." Classical Review, 14:14.

Brief report on a three-day meeting at which students in the Philological Seminar at Tübingen reci ted the whole of the Iliad in an attempt to discover whether such a feat of oral performance was practicable.
Area: AG

J.A. Davison. "Thucydides, Homer, and the `Achaean Wall'." Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 6:5-28.

During a discussion of the origin and history of the passage in Book 7 of the Iliad on the building of the wall, an occasion for considering the textual genesis and development of Homeric epic as a whole, he posits a Homer who deliberately designed the Iliad as six groups of four books apiece, "with the intention that it should be recited to a festival audience over a period of three days, with two sessions each day, by a team of four reciters, each of whom was to recite one `book' in each session" (24 ). Imagines Homer composing several oral versions before "he and his amanuenses (were they the three other members of the team?) set to work on the production of a `stabilized' text in writing" (26).
Area: AG

H elmut de Boor and Wolfgang Mohr. "Formel." In Reallexicon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, vol 1. Ed. Werner Kohlschmidt and Wolfgang Mohr. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 471-76.

A definition and history of the term Formel, tracing its origi n to Latin formula and its function in the Roman practice of law. Shows its application to literature, cults, and magic, particularly as a literary device in Germanic works reflecting a pre-Christian orientation and also in examples of MHG works. Added s ection on its use in Protestant church songs.
Area: MHG, GM, CP

Edmund V. de Chasca. Estructura y forma en "El Poema de Mio Cid" (hacia una explicación de la imitación poetica de la historia en la epopeya castellana). University of Iowa Studies in Spanish Language and Literature, 9. Iowa City and Mexico: University of Iowa Press and Editorial Patria.

Influenced by Menendez Pidal, this study assumes that the Cid is the collective product of medieval Spanish troub adours working within an established oral tradition. Most of the discussion of oral material per se is in the first three chapters, the balance of the text arguing for the artistic integrity and complexity of the poem despite its collective oral nature.< p>
Area: HI

Edmund V. de Chasca. "Composición escrita y oral en el Poema del Cid." Filologia, 12:77-94. Rpt. in de Chasca 1967/1972 (rpt.), pp. 320-36.

Considers the arguments for the oral or written composition of the Cid, with special attention to the theories of Menendez Pidal and Lord. Includes a statistical analysis of formulas and formulaic language in the poem, concluding that it was composed orally and suggesting the improbability of monastic influence on that compositional process.
Area: HI

Edmund V. de Chasca. El Arte juglaresco en el "Cantar de Mio Cid." Madrid: Editorial Gredos. 2nd ed. 1972).

A study of the Cid that bases its critical judgments on the examinati on of oral style, in particular the formula. Treats Parry-Lord theory, especially in relation to the organic unity of epic composition, and argues for the formal complexity and stylistic maturity of the Cid. Appendices include a section on oral versus w ritten composition and a list of verbal formulas in the poem.
Area: HI

Edmund V. de Chasca. "Problemas en torno a la composición del Poema del Cid." In Actas del Tercer Congreso Internacional de Hispanistas (celebrad o en Mexico, D.F., del 26 al 31 de Agosto de 1968). Ed. Carlos H. Magis. Mexico: El Colegio de Mexico, 1970. pp. 233-40.

After a review of many of the cruces involved with theories on the composition of the Cid, including oral doctrine, ideas on monastic influence, Menendez Pidal's views on oral and written tradition, Lord's fieldwork and analyses (especially the criteria of formulaic density, thematic structure, and enjambement), he concludes that (1) all signs point toward oral composition oft he poem by a juglar accustomed to performing before an audience, and (2) via the SC analogy, oral technique and writing seem incompatible: "Si la deduccion vale, pues, el estilo formulario, la escasez de encabalgamiento y la contextura tematica del Poema acusan su composicion juglaresca" (p. 240).
Area: HI

Edmund V. de Chasca. Registro de fórmulas verbales en el "Cantar de Mio Cid." Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

A listing of formulas in the Cid by t ype (e.g., epithets, exclamations, direct discourse with the verb dicendi), with a frequency analysis in three appendices.
Area: HI, CC

Edmund V. de Chasca. "Toward a Redefinition of Epic Formula in the Light of the Cantar de Mio Cid." Hispanic Review, 38:251-63.

Interesting argument for the activity of formulaic language and the possibility of aesthetic design by the "conscious artist." His new definition attempts to include the possibility for aesthetic activity, while at the same time allowing for the variable metrical condition of medieval Spanish epic and incorporating both formulaic and thematic patterns: "A formula is a habitual device of style or of narrative mode: as verbal expression it is a group of words form ing an identical or variable pattern which is used in the same, or similar, or dissimilar metrical conditions to express a given essential idea whose connotative meaning is frequently determined by the extent to which it is modified by poetic context; as narrative mode, it refers to the customary but variable manner in which the verbal matter is arranged to tell a story" (257-58, italics deleted).
Area: HI

Edmund V. de Chasca. The Poem of the Cid. Boston: G.K. Hall.

S ummarizes a great deal of his earlier work, especially the separately published shorter studies. In Chapter 3 ("Composition and Authorship," pp. 80-99), after a review of Parry-Lord oral theory and notions about monastic influence, he pronounces the Cid orally composed on the basis of formulaic density (p. 89). Also finds three important multiform themes, paratactic style, and a low frequency of necessary enjambement. Posits a series of singers passing the Cid epic along in tradition. In Chapter 4 ("S tyle," pp. 100-27), he finds many other types of patterns, such as narrative formulas, parallelism, and so forth, and believes they should be included in our conception of the oral-formulaic poet's technique. He thus distinguishes (1) verbal formulas, (2 ) stylistic patterns that follow a narrative arrangement, and (3) nonverbal narrative formulas. Notes the possibility of using these patterns to aesthetic advantage. An important book both for Hispanic studies and for comparative research.
Area: HI

Linda Degh. Folktales and Society: Story-Telling in a Hungarian Peasant Community. Trans. Emily M. Schossberger. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969.

An example of an approach that runs parallel to oral-formulaic studies and which would prove valuable for those interested in oral traditional literature. Using material collected between 1948 and 1960 in a Hungarian community, she reviews research on the folktale and provides specific information concerning the occa sions, stories, and story-tellers among the Szekler. Several raconteurs discussed individually, with samples of their stories. An appendix lists the stories recorded in the community.
Area: HY, FK

J. de Hoz. "Poesia oral independi ente de Homero en Hesiodo y los hymnos homéricos." Emerita, 32:283-98.

Argues that while Hesiod's language grows out of the Homeric tradition, the content of his work marks him as a poet of great originality who realized a synthesis of inor ganic elements in a new type of poem, the Theogony. Notes Hesiod's peculiar use of genealogy and myth in this connection, as well as his emphasis on women, features more typical of Oriental than Greek tradition. On the basis of this evidence, he postula tes the roots of Hesiodic tradition to be ultimately Mycenaean, in an ancient religious poetry linked to the Orient which developed a diction very similar to but separate from that of the heroic epic.
Area: AG

J. de Hoz. "Greek Tragedy as a Traditional Craft." Liverpool Classical Monthly, 2:189-200.

Discusses the similarities between the traditional structure of Homeric poetry and the structure of Greek tragedy. Distinguishes five different levels of traditional craft i n Homer, observing that not all of them are easily applicable to a study of tragedy: (1) formula, (2) motif, (3) pattern, (4) combinations of patterns, and (5) theme.
Area: AG

Joanne De Lavan. "Feasts and Anti-Feasts in Beowulf and the Odyssey." In Oral Traditional Literature: A Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord. Ed. John Miles Foley. Columbus: Slavica Publishers. Rpt. 1983. pp. 235-61.

Examines the role of the feasting theme in the OE and AG poems, stressing its traditional character and resonance in each work. Describes the relationship between formula and mythic patterns in Beowulf and considers the disruption of ritual and pattern in the Odyssey.
Area: OE, AG, CP

Joanne De Lavan. "From Creation Myth to Epic Genre: Toward a Study of Traditional Oral Forms." In Oral Tradition. Ed. John Miles Foley. Special issue of Canadian-American Slavic Studies, pp. 78-115.

Sees in the narrative structure and phraseology of Avdo Medjedovic's The Wedding of S mailagic Meho the verbal and tectonic traces of a creation myth as instanced by the Babylonian Enuma Elish.
Area: SC, BY, CP

André de Mandach. "La Vie de la chancellerie épique de Gonzague de Mantoue." Revue d'humanisme et renaissance, 26:621-33.

Contends that MS. Venise IV is the result of mixed transmission, both oral and written, and notes the written phases.
Area: OF

André de Mandach. "Evolution et structure de la laisse. Analyse de quelques chaines de transmission orale, ecrité et mixte." Bolet& iacute;n de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, 31:153-65.

Looks at 11 versions of a single laisse from the Aspremont. Using his concept of the "verset," an intra-laisse structure, he examines all versions for evidence of oral, written , or mixed transmission. Explores the relevant historical information for supporting evidence. Finds that the typical combination of texts which seems to have been at the root of many surviving manuscripts would be favored by the circumstances of oral t ransmission.
Area: OF

Beatriz Mariscal de Rhett. La Muerte ocultada. Romancero tradicional, XII. Diego Catalán, General Editor. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.

A study of the traditional pan-Hispanic romance "La Muerte ocultada" providing an introduction addressing octosyllabic and hexasyllabic versions, the history of the European ballad and romance, transmission of the text through Western Europe and America, and models of poetics. With musical transcriptions.
Area: HI

Martín de Riquer. Les C hansons de gestes françaises. Rev. and trans. Irenee Cluzel from the Spanish original of 1952. Paris: Librairie Nizet.

Posits a pre-textual history for the chansons de geste. In the earliest stage, legends were turned into oral songs by j ongleurs, and these songs were molded into chansons de geste by individual authors with the aid of writing, although the oral style was maintained: "L'auteur d'une chanson de geste écrit pour que son oeuvre soit repandue par les jongleurs, en s'ada ptant à leur style, en prévoyant leur récitation, et même en leur laissant la liberté de modifier son ouvrage" (p. 313). See especially the summary given in "Conclusions" (pp. 297-321).
Area: OF

< p> Martín de Riquer. "Epopée jongleresque à écouter et épopée romanesque à lire." In La Technique litéraire des chansons de geste: Actes du Colloque de Liége (septembre 1957). Biblioth&eacu te;que de la Faculté de Liège, fasc. 150. Ed. Maurice Delbouille. Paris: Société d'Editon "Les Belles Lettres," pp. 75-82. "Discussion," pp. 82-84.

Claims that, at least in origin, the chansons de geste belong to a t radition of oral expression, as evidenced by the frequent repetitions of various forms. Posits that oral versions then passed through the hands of copyists and editors, the latter of whom imposed "literary" changes on the received manuscripts. The result was that, at the time from which most of the extant versions of the chansons de geste stem, "l'épopée jongleresque est en train de céder la place à l'épopée romanesque, en partie à cause de l'influence du roman courtois" (p. 81).
Area: OF

Martín de Riquer. "Les Gestes catalanes." In Historia de la literatura catalana, vol. 1. Ed. Martin de Riquer. Barcelona: Editions Ariel. pp. 373-94.

Postulates lost Cat alan heroic epics or chansons de geste which were turned into prose chronicles and other documents. Sees these no longer extant poems as originally oral and formulaic and compares the OF chansons de geste and the Spanish Cid.
Area: HI, CP

Martín de Riquer. "Prologo" to Cantar del Cid. Orig. text ed. Ramon Menendez Pidal and prose trans. Alfonso Reyes. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. pp. 9-34.

Describes the formulaic diction and oral provenance of the Cantar, giving nu merous examples and making frequent comparisons with the OF Chanson de Roland and others of its genre.
Area: H I, CP

A.J. De Rop. De gesproken Woordkunst van de Nkundó. Tervuren: Musee Royal du Congo Belge.

A monograph on the oral art of the Nkundo, with a description of the various genres (epic, drama, proverb, myth, etc.) and a consideration o f sociocultural context.
Area: AF

J.H. Delargy. "The Gaelic Story-teller, with Some N otes on Gaelic Folk-tales" (Sir John Rhys Memorial Lecture for 1945). Proceedings of the British Academy, 31:177-221. Separately published as a monograph under the same title. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1947.

A description of the oral perform ance of folktales in Ireland, drawn from his own observations during fieldwork and from the manuscripts of the Irish Folklore Commission.
Area: MI

Maurice Delbouilleuille. "Les Chansons de geste et le livre." In La Technique litéraire des chansons de geste: Actes du Colloque de Liége (septembre 1957). Bibliothéque de la Faculté de Liège, fa sc. 150. Ed. Maurice Delbouille. Paris: Société d'Editon "Les Belles Lettres," pp. 295-407.

An extended critique of Rychner's (1955) thesis that the chanson de geste was a genre of orally improvised and transmitted poems unstable in their texts and composed of diverse traditional elements. Noting the lack of evidence of a chanson de geste tradition prior to the twelfth century, he rejects the concept of the jongleur as author in favor of a cleric-minstrel who composed in writing an d borrowed from the older hagiographic tradition in inventing a new genre. Contends with Rychner on the issues of improvisation, unity, laisse and strophe subdivisions, the technique of refrain and formula, and the significance of manuscript variations. Extensive reference to primary texts.
Area: OF

Maurice Delbouilleuille. "Chansons de geste et chants héroïques yougoslaves." In Atti del 2deg. Congresso Internazionale della "Société Rences vals." Vol 21 of Cultura Neolatina. pp. 97-104.

Denies Parry's explanation of formulaic style as necessarily the diction used by an oral singer. Follows Banasevic in attributing the common features of OF and SC verse to historical influence, arg uing that "ce qui rapproche la poésie héroïque serbo-croate des chansons de geste ne serait pas imputable à l'effet d'une loi `scientifique' liant le style formulaire à l'improvisation orale, mais bien à un ph&eacut e;nomène historique accidentel, l'imitation du genre français par les poètes yougoslaves" (100).
Area: OF, SC, CP

Maurice Delbouilleuille. "Le Chant héroïque serbo-croate et la genese de l a chanson de geste." Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, 31:83-98.

After a review of oral theory and the SC analog (citing mainly Rychner 1955, Lord 1960, and Braun 1961), together with a comparison of OF and SC epic m eters, he argues against too facile an assumption of equivalence. Denies the proposed origin of OF chansons de geste in the preliterate compositions of jongleurs, seeing this theory as a variant of the "collective genius of the people" fallacy, and advoc ates a line of written development similar to that of the contemporary prose hagiographies.
Area: OF, SC, CP

Jean-Claude Delclos. "Encore le prologue des Lais de Marie de France." Le Moyen äge, 90:223-32.

Suggests the impo rtance of understanding Marie de France's allusion to the Ancients in the context of the Prologue, in which verses 9-22 explain her purpose in writing the Lais. She does not conceal the oral character of the ancient songs she has heard in the recitiation s which inspiried her, but affirms that they are equal in age, truth, and richness to her Latin sources.
Area: OF

Edouard Delebecque. Télémacque et la structure de l'Odyssée. Aix-en-Provence: Editions O rphrys.

Through a close analysis of the voyage of Telemachos, he finds several "dead" spaces of time demanded by the total chronology of the Odyssey and yet unaccounted for by Homer. Explains these spots as the consequences of the "law of successi on" or consecutive narration. Composing in writing for a listening audience, Homer observed this law, required by an anterior oral tradition, for the sake of expositional clarity. At the same time, writing enabled him to minimize the effect of chronolog ical irregularities.
Area: AG

Peter F. Dembowski. "Interprétation des mobiles chez les héros de la chanson de geste." In Actele celui de-al XII-lea Congres International de Linguistica` si Filologie Romanica`, vol 2. Ed. Alexandra Rosetti. Bucharest: Editure Academiei Republicii Socialiste Romania`. pp. 19-27. "Discussion," pp. 27-28.

Although he credits Rychner (1955) with valuable insights into structure, transmission, and oral traditional features, he calls for scholars to admit that solving the problem of origins is impossible and to direct their attention instead to textual patterns such as guerre/victoire, trahison/chaâtiment, and conflit/réconciliation.
Area: OF

Franc is M. Deng. The Dinka and Their Songs. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

A description of the traditional and modern society of the Dinka, a people made up of more than 500 tribes in the Sudan, that culminates in a discussion of the central role of oral s ongs in their life. Terms the composition process oral but not impromptu. Includes translations of 143 songs (with the original texts for about half that number).
Area: AF

Donald Denoon, ed. Oral Tradition in Melanesia. Port Moresby, New Guinea: University of Papua, New Guinea and Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.

A collection of sixteen essays on the oral traditions of Melanesia. Separately annotated are Waiko, Ruhan, Lacy (1981a, 1981b), Opeba, L. Farrall, Loe liger, S. Farrall, Gammage, Mai, Blong, Trompf, Latukefu, Kaniku, Oram, Loila, and Swadling. Includes numerous maps illustrating locations of various legends and migrations discussed in the essays.
Area: ML

Emile Dermenghem. "L'Epopée vivante au Sahara." In L'Epopée vivante, a special issue of La Table Ronde, 132:89-99.

An excellent brief overview of the various kinds of oral poetry practiced by Arab tribesmen in the Sahara. Makes the point that the poetry is performed in fragments, with a number of smaller genres, among them the goul (a short c adenced poem), nemm (a rhymed work sung by a professional poet), gueththa'a (an improvised poem about journey), zaghouia (a type of lyric), mounadara (a parallel dialogue), ghennaia (with the accompaniment of a stringed instrument), hadjoua (satire), mert hia or rethoua (funerary elegy), and madh or medha (panegyric). Notes that "cette poésie a conservé chez eux toutes ses vertus didactiques, mnémotechniques, incantatoires, apaisantes ou dynamiques" (p. 99).
Area: AR

Raymond Descat. "Idéologie et communication dans la poésie grecque archaïque." Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, n.s. 9:7-27.

Concerned with the development of me aning in AG poetry from the beginnings to the fifth century BC, he probes the oral-written controversy over the Homeric poems. Focuses on the production of poems in oral performance and on their recension in the written medium, concluding that "Hom&egrav e;re a mis (ou fait mettre) par écrit les poèmes" (12). Also contends that the shift to writing and individual composition was a gradual one, with an innovative style not really evident until Archilochos.
Area: AG

Adalbert Dessau. "Relations Epiques internationales: Les Changes de thèmes entre légendes héroiques françaises et espagnoles." In Atti del 2 Congresso Internazionale della "Société Rencesvals" [= Cul tura Neolatina, 21]. pp. 83-90.

Without taking a firm stance on the oral or written composition of the Roland and the Cid, he treats the traditional character of the narrative elements, comparing the accounts of Serbo-Croatian oral epic given by G esemann (1926) and Murko (1931).
Area: OF, HI, SC, CP

Alan D. Deyermond. "La Decadencia de la epopeya española: `Las Mocedades de Rodrigo'." Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 1:607-17.

Argues against the neotraditionalist hyp othesis of the juglar's oral composition and in favor of a learned cleric as the author of the Mocedades. Recommends a general reconsideration of the juglar theory of the origin of Spanish epic, including the Cid.
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. "The Singer of Tales and Mediaeval Spanish Epic." Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 42:1-8.

Primarily a reaction to Lord 1960, to a lesser extent to L. Harvey 1963. Discusses narrative inconsistency, interrelation among texts, def ects in manuscripts, oral transmission, and learned influence, suggesting that "it is thus not inconceivable that in twelfth- to fourteenth-century Spain a poem, learned or partly learned in origin, could have been handed to juglares for diffusion and re- creation at each performance" (7). Proposes this explanation as a way of explaining the signs of both oral and learned transmission and of fitting the description of the SC guslari and their craft. Calls for formulaic analyses and thematic investigation s of the Spanish poems before more confident statements are made.
Area: HI, CP

Alan D. Deyermond. Epic Poetry and the Clergy: Studies on the Mocedades de Rodrigo. London: Tamesis.

Considers the motif, epithet, formula, te chnique, and the role of the juglar in discussing the origins of the Mocedades as an oral dictated text whose clerical author has drawn on traditional epic and adapted it in emulation of another, learned poem. See especially pp. 155-76, 185-207.
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. A Literary History of Spain: The Middle Ages. London and New York: Ernest Benn and Barnes & Noble.

Includes sections on oral-formulaic technique and medieval Spanish epic; argues, as elsewhere, against neotraditionalism and in favor of memorization combined with formulaic technique. See especially pp. 31-49.
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. "Structural and Stylistic Patterns in the Cantar de Mio Cid." In Medieval Stud ies in Honor of Robert White Linker. Ed. Brian Dutton, J. Woodrow Hassell, Jr., and John E. Keller. Madrid: Editorial Castalia. pp. 55-71.

Considers (1) comparison and contrast of narrative situations, (2) epic epithets, (3) verbal oppositions a nd identifications, (4) other linguistic and stylistic forms of gradation and contrast, and (5) symbols, drawing the conclusion that the poet's use of these patterns is too sophisticated for the Cid to be an actual oral composition. Feels this demonstrat ion strengthens the case for unity of authorship and written composition, although it does not affect suppositions of oral diffusion or even an original oral dictated text, both of which he takes as proven. Recommends a critical approach suitable to the style as described.
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. "Juglar's Repertoire or Sermon Notebook?_The Libro de Buen Amor and a Manuscript Miscellany." Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 51:217-27.

Disagrees with the conventional w isdom of viewing the two manuscript fragments of the Libro as at opposite ends of a spectrum: one by the Toledan humanist Alvar Gómez de Castro and the other supposedly from a minstrel's repertoire, specifically that of a lowly juglar cazurro. Lea rned features of the latter preclude seeing it as an oral dictated text or rhapsode's prompt book. Prefers to call it either a more sophisticated juglar's performance, a lesser florilegium, or a sermon notebook.
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. "The Lost Genre of Medieval Spanish Literature." Hispanic Review, 43:231-59.

In discussing the lack of attention to medieval Spanish romance, he mentions oral-formulaic theory and its applicability to the genre (especially 250-51).
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond. "Tendencies in `Mio Cid' Scholarship, 1943-1973." In Mio Cid Studies. Ed. Alan D. Deyermond. London: Tamesis. pp. 13-47.

Short review of early critical history, followed by a summar y of scholarship on editions, concordances, date, unity of authorship, identity of author, historicity, ideology, prosody, grammar, formulaic and thematic studies, numerology, mythical patterns, typology, the question of orality (pp. 30-33), literary crit icism, structure, folklore, characterization, the role of the chronicles, and comparative epic.
Area: HI, BB

Alan D. Deyermond. "The Mocedades de Rodrigo as a Test Case: Problems of Methodology." La Corónica, 6:108-12.

Repeats his call for modifications in neotraditionalism to allow for a learned author of the Mocedades (compare Deyermond 1964 and 1969).
Area: HI

Alan D. Deyermond and Margaret Chaplin. "Folk-Motifs in the M edieval Spanish Epic." In Hispanic Studies in Honor of Edmun de Chasca. A special issue of Philological Quarterly, 51, i:36-53.

After a survey of folk-motifs in the Poema de Mio Cid, Mocedades de Rodrigo, Condesa traidora, Poema de Fernán González, Romanz del Infant García, and other texts, they conclude that the frequent use of motifs (1) is not limited to the epic genre, (2) is as consistent with a learned as with a popular origin for a poem, (3) makes it difficult to accep t the neotraditionalist view of a juglar composing orally at the time of the action or soon afterwards, and (4) means that scholars must employ caution in formulating theories of direct borrowing among Spanish, French, and English poems.
Area: HI

Riccardo Di Donato. "Problemi di tecnica formulare e poesia orale nell'epica greca arcaica." Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore de Pisa, 38:243-94.

A thorough hi storical and critical survey of Parry-Lord theory, with sections on Parry's ideas on formulaic style, problems and methods of formulaic analysis, comparative studies in Homeric and SC epic, memory and chronology, the Odyssean bards (Demodokos and Phemios) , songs within the Odyssey, Homeric psychology and the oral epic, and an extended section with documentation on formulaic technique and the narration of the loves of Ares and Aphrodite. The first lengthy, complete analysis of Parry-Lord theory in Italian .
Area: AG, SC, CP

Giuseppe Di Stefano. "Marginalia sul romanzero." Miscellanea de studi ispanici (Pisa), 16:139-78.

Prefers a modified neotraditionalist position, one which allows the oral poet enough reflection to assure the unity of his romancero, citing Aguirre 1968 as an example. Feels the studies of Lord, Bowra, and Notopoulos need qualification.
Area: HI

Robert E. Diamond. "Heroic Diction in The Dream of the Rood." In Studies in Honor of John Wilcox. Ed. A. Doyle Wallace and Woodburn O. Ross. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 3-7.

Sees oral-formulaic diction as a med ium of composition that does not necessarily imply orality. Even with a new subject, in this case a Christian story, the old heroic mode of composition will prevail.
Area: OE

Robert E. Diamond. "The Diction of the Signed Poems of Cynewulf." Philological Quarterly, 38:228-41.

Analyzes the diction of the four poems customarily attributed to Cynewulf (Elene, Juliana, Fates of the Apostles, and Christ II) for formulaic phraseology, finding them 43% formulaic, with 20% whole -verse repeats. Interprets these figures as evidence that the poems were composed in the traditional style, but feels they are inconclusive on the subject of orality. Disavows belief in the necessary connection between formulaic structure and oral composi tion.
Area: OE

Robert E. Diamond. "Theme as Ornament in Anglo-Saxon Poetry." Publications of the Modern Language Association, 76:461-68. Rpt. in Essential Articles for the Study of Old English Poetry. Ed. Jess B. Bessinger, J r. and Stanley J. Kahrl. Hamden: Archon Books, 1968. pp. 374-92.

Examines themes of war, sea voyage, comitatus, and cold weather in a selection of OE poems. Discusses multiformity within a common tradition and the consequent lack of "influence" f rom one text to another.
Area: OE

Robert E. Diamond. The Diction of the Anglo-Saxon Metrical Psalms. Janua Linguarum, Series Practica, 10. The Hague: Mouton.

Formulaic analysis of a random sample from the Paris Psalter against the OE poetic corpus, finding 50% formulaic with 24% whole-verse repeats. Understands these figures as suggesting a mechanical kind of composition and suggests that the same may be true of many other OE poems.
Area: OE

Robert E. Diamond. "The Diction of the Old English Christ." In Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Essays in Appreciation for John C. McGalliard. Ed. Lewis E. Nicholoson and Dolores W. Frese. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. pp. 301-11.

On the bas is of formulaic analysis of the so-called "Cynewulf poems" (see Diamond 1959) and of Christ I and III, he pronounces the latter two poems not authored by Cynewulf (although they are themselves probably by the same poet). A kind of throwback to earlier for mulaic studies, e.g. Sarrazin 1886.
Area: OE

A. Dihle. Homer-Probleme. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.

A synthetic exposition that attempts to bring together the thinking of the Analytical and Unitarian schools on Homeric authorship and textual study witht he work of Parry and his successors on oral literature. Projects this composite view as a possible new impetus in Homeric research.
Area: AG

Myles Dillon. "The Wooing of Becfhola and the Stories of Cano, Son of Gartnan." Moder n Philology, 43:11-17.

Working from a comparison of parallel passages, he posits that the bards who created them depended on sketchy "notes" during oral performance, that "the oldest texts are summaries of the matter of the story and that the form was given by the fili in actual performance and was his personal achievement" (17).
Area: OI

Myles Dillon. "The Archaism of Irish Tradition" (The Sir John Rhys Memorial Lecture). Proceedings of the British Academy, 3 3:245-64. Also published as a separate volume under the same title. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege.

Contends that the Irish tradition preserves IE characteristics that have been lost elsewhere in the West. Finds links between Irish and Hindu tradit ions in the importance of the act of truth, the use of prose narrative and verse dialogue, common motifs, similar bardic conventions, and linguistic affinities. Includes a comparative description of Indic and Turkish bardic historians, with comments on th e traditional language of the OI fili's praise-poetry.
Area: OI, SK, TK, CP

Myles Dillon, ed. Early Irish Society. Publications of the Cultural Relations Committee of Ireland. Dublin: Colm o Lochlainn. Rpt. 1959, 1963.

A collection of essays on Irish language (Dillon), early literature (David Greene), origin-legends (M.A. O'Brien), secular institutions (D.A. Binchy), the impact of Christianity (James Carney), and early society (Greene). The second entry (pp. 22-35) considers the r ole of the poet-seer or file, roots in oral tradition, poetic diction, and narrative commonplaces in the sagas.
Area: OI

Myles Dillon, coll. and trans. There Was a King in Ireland...: Five Tales from Oral Tradition. Austin: Univ ersity of Texas Press.

Notes in the introduction that these stories were collected about 1930 directly from oral tradition: "the original Irish is an exact record of what the speaker said, based upon dictaphone records, except for the last story, w hich was written down directly from the speaker's narrative" and that "the book therefore gives a true account of oral tradition" (p. 7). The five tales follow.
Area: MI

George E. Dimock. "From Homer to Novi Pazar and B ack." Arion, 2, iv:40-57.

Reacts against the Parry-Lord hypothesis of an oral Homer, claiming that, although Lord demonstrated that the oral poet thinks in verse and offered many explanations of the various facets of the Homeric Question by recour se to the Yugoslav analogy, the difference between Homer and other, literate poets is one of degree rather than kind. Wants to rescue Homer's art from what he sees as the dangers inherent in the oral theory model.
Area: AG, SC, CP

Franz Dirlmeier. Das serbokroatische Heldenlied und Homer. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.

A comparative study of SC heroic epic and Homer. Maintains that for extemporaneous singing to take place the following are necessary: (1) a homogeneous vie w of the world by the populace and (2) memorization by the singer of a rather large number of formulaic phrases with heroic content. Contends that SC heroic poetry enables a more intensive understanding of the formulaic concept and its application, but th at it cannot solve the problem of the large epic (on the AG scale). Feels that poetic creation on the Homeric scale is unimaginable without writing and that the poetic mastery demonstrated in the Iliad and Odyssey has to be perceived as the accomplishmen t of a single author. Also presents a German translation of the SC poem Smrt majke Jugovia, with interpretation.
Area: SC, AG, CP

Milos N. Djuri. "Veze Homerove poezije s nasom narodnom i umetnikom poezijom." Zbornik radova, Srpska Akademija Nauka (Belgrade), 10. = Zbornik radova, Institut za prouavanje knjizevnosti. Srpska Akademija Nauka, Belgrade, 1 (1951):165-214; résumé in French, 214-16.

Lists and exemplifies 18 similarities between Homeric epic and the folk and literary narrative songs of the Serbs. Most interesting for oral-formulaic theory are (1) the use of epithets, (2 ) employment of formulas for the same situations and events (although he claims the phraseology is designed to stimulate the audience's attention), (3) typical numbers, and (4) formulas indicating the time of day.
Area: SC, AG, CP

James E . Doan. "A Structural Approach to Celtic Saints' Lives." In Celtic Folklore and Christianity: Studies in Memory of William H. Heist. Ed. by Patrick K. Ford. Santa Barbara: McNally and Loftin, pp. 16-28.

A structural interpretation of a group of four Welsh and Breton Saints' vitae from the seventh to eleventh centuries which highlights particular elements suggesting oral origins in the tales.
Area: OI

R. Doctor. "Gujerati Proverbs: An Analytical Study." Lore and Language, 4, i:1- 30.

A brief analytical study of Gujerati folk proverbs of western India which discusses the proverb on two levels: that of the internal structure of the proverb iself and that of the argumentative application of the proverb to specific situations. Four sublevels of structure are treated: form of expression, substance of expression, substance of content (theme), and form of content (semiotics and logic). Illustrates how "Gujerati proverbs reflect the society and the ethos which gave rise to them" (2) and discusses the methods through which symbolic logic, linguistic philosophy, and semantics can provide new approaches to the study of proverbs.
Area: IN

E.R. Dodds. "Homer as Oral Poetry." Pt. III of "Homer." In Fifty Ye ars of Classical Scholarship. Ed. Maurice Platnauer. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Rpt. as Fifty Years (and Twelve) . . . (1968), pp. 13-17, 34-35. With "Appendix to Chapter I, Sections i-iii." 2nd ed., pp. 38-42. Rpt. in The Language and Background of Homer: Some Recent Studies and Controversies. Ed. Geoffrey S. Kirk. Cambridge and New York: Heffer and Barnes & Noble, 1964; rpt. 1967. pp. 13-21.

Very brief discussion of Parry's work and its implications, with reference to Bowra and the Cha dwicks.
Area: AG

J.W. Doeve. "Le Rôle de la tradition orale dans la composition des Evangiles synoptiques." In La Formation des Evangiles: Probleme synoptique et Formgeschichte. Louvain: Desclee de Brouwer. pp. 70-84.

Probes the traditional oral units within the Gospels, demonstrating how grouping takes place according to internally operative rules.
Area: BI

Cay Dollerup, Bengt Holbek, Ivan Reventlow, and Carsten Rose nberg Hansen. "The Ontological Status, the Formative Elements, the Filters' and Existences of Folktales." Fabula: Journal of Folklore Studies, 25, iii/iv:241-65.

Suggests that transmission of folktales is through "filters": "changes in terms of s pace, time and media where they come to exist in new dimensions. In these dimensions, the folktales are released in experiences, i.e. continua,' which are communal when the tales are told, and individual when the tales are read" (241). Compares Danish, Greek, and Turkish folktale versions of the theme "boy and girl get one another," demonstrating that the apparent "sameness" of the narratives is superficial due to the transmission of the tales through "filters." Posits an "ideal tale" which can only be approached by comparative methodolgoy and whose real nature can never be completely determined. Concludes that "to claim that there is identity between tales in different dimensions after they have passed through filters is meaningless_but then on the ot her hand, there is an indissoluble relationship between an ideal tale' and tales derived from it in other dimensions and continua'" (265).
Area: FK

Tamsin Donaldson. "Kids that Got Lost. Variation in Words of Ngiyampaa Songs ." In Problems and Solutions: Occasional Essyas in Musicology Presented to Alice M. Moyle. Ed. Jamie C. kassler and Jill Stubington. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger. pp. 228-53.

Studies selectivity in the survival of social naming systems of the pre literate culture of the Aborigines in western New South Wales.
Area: AU

Walter Donlan. "Homer's Agamemnon." Classical World, 65:109-15.

Contends not only that Homer is capable of finely drawn characterization but also th at his formulaic diction assists rather than impedes such characterization. Compare A. Parry 1956.
Area: AG

Jean Doresse. "Epopées éthiopiennes, épopées vivantes." In L'Epopé vivante, a spec ial issue of La Table Ronde 132:100-8.

Primarily a content-based description of Ethiopian epic that emphasizes the political and historical milieu. Finds oral traditional structures underlying the written texts.
Area: ET

Eugene Dorfman. The Narreme in the Medieval Romance Epic: An Introduction to Narrative Structures. University of Toronto Romance Series, 13. Toronto and Manchester: University of Toronto Press.

Posits a narrative unit, the narreme, para llel to the phoneme and morpheme and uses it to explore the Roland, Cid, and 12 other French and Spanish narratives in order to demonstrate a common morphology based on four narremes. Does not include any direct reference to oral-formulaic theory, but th e unit described and exemplified may be compared to Lord's theme.
Area: OF, HI, CP

Richard M. Dorson. "Oral Tradition and Written History: The Case for the United States." Journal of the Folklore Institute, 1:220-34.

An argum ent for the importance of oral tradition as source, listing five areas in which the historian may profit from considering oral materials: (1) popular attitudes, prejudices, stereotypes; (2) myth, symbol, and image; (3) separating fact from fancy; (4) veri fication of incidents; and (5) data on minority groups. A straightforward commentary that can serve as a point of departure toward the study of oral history.
Area: FK, US

Richard M. Dorson, ed. African Folklore. Garden City: D oubleday.

An introductory essay by the editor, followed by papers from the 1970 African Folklore Conference at Indiana University, as well as samples of AF oral literature. Separately annotated are Biebuyck and Bird.
Area: AF, FK

Richard M. Dorson. "Oral Literature, Oral History, and the Folklorist." In his Folklore and Fakelore: Essays toward a Discipline of Folk Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 127-44.

Brief histories of oral literature an d oral history against the background of folklore's concern with oral process. Suspicious of the terminology of the oral-formulaic school, citing African examples that do not fit the taxonomy. Feels the newer disciplines should look to folklore for metho dology as well as archival deposits.
Area: FK, TH

Sterling Dow. "Minoan Writing." American Journal of Archeology, 2o ser., 58:77-129.

An extensive archaeological treatment of Minoan literacy. Finds the civilization not highly literate, so that "the Minoans probably did not attain to any appreciation of the possibilities of written literature. Doubtless they had an oral literature... but there is no reason to believe anyone recorded their song" (127-28). With the advent of th e Dark Ages, what little administrative literacy existed vanished, "whereas literature_oral, that is_went on" (128).
Area: AG

Sterling Dow. "Literacy: The Palace Bureaucracies, the Dark Age, Homer." In A Land Called Crete: A S ymposium in Memory of Harriet Boyd Dawes. Pref. by Nelly S. Hoyt. Smith College Studies in History, 45:109-47.

Primarily a historical consideration of literacy and its lack from the Minoan period through the Dark Ages. Sees Linear B as a bookkee ping script never used for writing down oral poetry and places an illiterate Homer at the end of the Dark Age, just as the Phoenician alphabet was coming into play. Embraces the Parry-Lord dogma and in particular the oral dictated text, imagining a scrib e to whom Homer dictated his epics. Finds Parry's theory "one of the greatest discoveries ever made in any field of literature. It meant that not only Homer, but no epic composed orally, can ever be read in the same way again" (143).
Area: AG, CP

Auguste Dozon, trans. L'Epopée serbe: Chants populaires héroïques. Paris: Ernest Leroux.

A translation and introductory analysis of oral heroic songs from Serbia, Bosnia, Hercegovina, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Monte negro, with historical and ethnographic commentary. An influence on Parry (cited in 1932).
Area: SC

Engelbert Drerup. "Homer und die Volksepik." Neophilologus, 5:257-73. Rpt. in Homer: Tradition und Neuerung. Ed. Joachim Latacs. Wege der Forschung, Band 463. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. pp. 153-75.

Presents a historical overview of scholarship on Homeric and folk epic over the preceding 200 years. Using the then current German approach, he bu ilds an argument for Homer as the single author of both the Iliad and Odyssey, works that may have roots in individual folk songs. Sees Homer as the monumental composer who combined these smaller folk poems and created the great epics. A classic example of Lieder-theorie.
Area: AG, CP

Engelbert Drerup. Das Homerproblem in der Gegenwart: Prinzipien und Methoden der Homerklärung. Vol. 1 of Homerische Poetik. Würzburg: C.J. Becker.

Uses the early reports of Murko on SC oral epic to illuminate Homeric epic.
Area: AG, SC, CP

Jeffrey M. Duban. "Poets and Kings in the Theogony Invocation." Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, n.s. 4:7-21.

Through a close study of the language of the Theogony, he concludes that the intimate tie between poet and king "points to the conditions of the Mycenaean period, when the function of sovereignty was inseparable from the organization of the world and each aspect of the royal personage was a dimensio n of his cosmic power" (19-20). Understands the poet as one of those functions and his recitation of a poem of creation as an ordering of the world.
Area: AG

Jeffrey M. Duban. "Les Duels majeurs de l'Iliade et le langage d'Hecto r." Les Etudes classiques, 49:97-124.

A detailed comparative analysis of the three "spectator duels" in the Iliad: Menelaos-Paris (Bk. 3), Ajax-Hector (Bk. 7), and Achilles-Hector (Bk. 22). Argues that Hector as well as Achilles (cp. A. Parry 1956 , Hogan 1976) has a distinctive way of speaking within Homer's formulaic idiom, a style characterized by preoccupation with fame (kleos), frequent use of the verb "to know," and a rhetorical balance when he controls a situation.
Area: AG

Dianne M. Dugaw. "Anglo-American Folksong Reconsidered: The Interface of Oral and Written Forms." Western Folklore, 43:83-103.

Compares printed and oral texts of English and American versions of fem ale warrior ballads and concludes that the variants "...printed as well as oral, vary the ballad in similar ways. That is, the commercially printed texts of The Maid of Sorrow exhibit the same ranges and kind of variation as the non-commercial oral ones. All four versions exhibit continuity, variation, and selection. Stylistically indistinguishable, all four versions clearly represent a single song tradition" (102).
Area: FB, US, BR

Joseph J. Duggan. "Formulas in the Couronnement de Louis." Romania, 87:315-44.

A description of the formulaic language of the Couronnement through the use of a computer-generated concordan ce. Shows quantitatively that the chanson de geste is more than twice as formulaic as the romance.
Area: OF

Joseph J. Duggan. A Concordance of the Chanson de Roland. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.

A key-w ord-in-context listing based on Raoul Mortier's edition of the poem (Paris: "La Geste Francor," 1940), with a few emendations. Alphabetization for 27 characters to the right of the centered key word allows easy location of formulas.
Area: OF, CC

Joseph J. Duggan. The Song of Roland: Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft. Publications of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California Los Angeles, 6. Berkeley: University of California Press.

After a review of the various individualist and traditionalist positions on the composition and nature of the Oxford Roland, he reports the results of a computer-assisted analysis designed to demonstrate the orality of the poem through determination of its formul aic density. On the basis of 13 OF chansons de geste, he postulates a 20% straight repetition figure as a threshold for orality. Since the Roland is 15% over the threshold, it must be oral. Also applies data-processing techniques to a discussion of the Baligant episode (cp. J. Duggan 1976). Shows that the Roland poet employs traditional formulas but organizes them in a consummately poetic way.
Area: OF

Joseph J. Duggan. "Oral Composition in the Old French Epic: A Compute r-Aided Method of Formula Analysis." Hasifrut, 4:488-96 [in Hebrew], with English summary on xxv-xxvi.

Presents his hypothesis of the oral composition of OF chansons de geste as elaborated in Duggan 1973a.
Area: OF

Joseph J. Duggan. ed. Oral Literature: Seven Essays. Edinburgh and New York: Scottish Academic Press and Barnes & Noble, 1975. Rpt. of Forum for Modern Langauge Studies, 10, iii.

Individual essays on current resear ch; separately annotated are Lord (1974c), Melia, Fry (1974b), Bauml; and Spielmann, J. Duggan (1974b), L. Harvey, and E. Warner.
Area: OF, HI, OE, M HG, OI, RU, CP, BB

Joseph J. Duggan. "Formulaic Diction in the Cantar de Mio Cid and the Old Fre nch Epic." In Oral Literature: Seven Essays. Edinburgh and New York: Scottish Academic Press and Barnes & Noble, 1975. Rpt. of Forum for Modern Language Studies, 10, iii:74-83.

After summarizing formulaic research on the Cid to date and cons idering the effect of the poem's irregular meter on the definition of the formula, he shows the Cid to contain 31.7% semantic formulas. On comparison with his findings on OF chansons de geste (see especially 1973a), he pronounces it an orally composed po em.
Area: OF, HI, CP

Hoyt N. Duggan. "The Role of Formulas in the Dis semination of a Middle English Alliterative Romance." Studies in Bibliography. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, 29:265-88.

Understands The Wars of Alexander and, by implication, other ME verse romances as compo sed by "a literate poet writing within an essentially oral tradition for oral delivery" (276). Confronts the resultant problems for editors, including manuscript variation and the establishment of authoritative readings. Envisions a literate poet who wri tes formulaically and varies his memorized text unconsciously, preserving changes in a series of autographs, followed by a line of performer-scribes.
Area: ME

Joseph J. Duggan. "The Generation of the Episode of Baligant: Charlemagne's Dream and the Normans at Mantzikert." Romance Philology, 30:59-82.

Contends that the addition of the Baligant story was a tradit ionally prompted extension of an orally composed song, making reference to Lord's discussions of performance and stability (Lord 1960). On the basis of oral-formulaic theory and historical evidence, he concludes that "the multiple forces leading to the g eneration of an Episode of Baligant were synthesized by an inspired poet, a singer working within his tradition but also in tune with the spirit of his age" (82).
Area: OF

Hoyt N. Duggan. "Strophic Patterns in Middle English Allit erative Poetry." Modern Philology, 74:223-47.

Argues for the existence of poems composed in the long line without rhyme but with regular stanzaic units as a stage in the development of English poetry from OE vers Š rative poems. Focuses on The Wars of Alexander to determine what the formal principles behind and source of these divisions might have been. Tables present evidence for a correlation between a poem's strophic divisions and chapter or paragraph divisions in the manuscript.
Area: ME, OE, CP

Joseph J. Duggan. "Legitimation and the Hero' s Exemplary Function in the Cantar de Mio Cid and the Chanson de Roland." In Oral Traditional Literature: A Festschrift for Albert Bates Lord. Ed. John Miles Foley. Columbus: Slavica Publishers. Rpt. 1983. pp. 217-34.

Examines the traditional p attern of possible incestuous ancestry in the epics of Roland and the Cid, noting "how singers have distorted history" (p. 231, italics deleted; cp. Lord 1970). The epic heroes serve as models, men who have overcome the disadvantages of ancestry through heroic and paradigmatic action.
Area: HI, OF, CP

Joseph J. Duggan. "La Théorie de la composition orale des chansons de geste: les faits et les interprétations." Olifant: A Publication of the Sociét&eacut e; Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, 8, iii:238-55.

Responds to Calin 1981a. Admits (where documented) written composition of some chansons de geste and cites other apposite oralist studies. Denies Calin's characterization of oral-formulaic s tudies as "romantisme tardif" as unjust and undertakes a brief recapitulation of the evolution of Parry-Lord theory in order to correct Calin's misrepresentations. Admits and in fact underscores the variety inherent in oral literatures, explains manuscri pt variation as in part the consequence of orality, refutes the direct influence theory of the similarity between OF and SC tradition by pointing to the studies of Jakobson (e.g., 1952), criticizes Calin's lack of rigor in blithely calling Racine and othe rs "formulaic" without carrying out the necessary analyses, and notes that his own concept of the formula is statistical only. Summarizes by observing that in his opinion "la chanson de geste se caractérise le plus souvent par un style, une organi sation, une transmission manuscrite, un fonds narratif, et des interventions de jongleur ayant trait aux conditions de présentation, qui semblent tous indiquer une origine dans la tradition orale..." (252).
Area: OF, SC, CP

Joseph J. Duggan. "Le Mode de composition des chansons de geste: Analyse statistique, jugement esthetique, modeles de transmission." Olifant: A Publication of the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, 8, iii:286-316.

T he last of a series of four articles on the oral/written controversy and OF epic (see Calin 1981a, b; J. Duggan 1981a). Eschewing the "global" perspective advocated in Calin 1981b, to which he responds here, Duggan limits his remarks "aux faits et aux hy pothèses qui se rapportent à la genèse, à la présentation, et a la transmission des chansons de geste francaises" (286). Notes that the hypothesis of oral composition in OF cannot rest simply on the SC or any other anal ogy, as Calin claims, and that analogous oral traditions are merely suggestive: the theory must rest on statistical facts and a likely interpretation of those facts. Rebuts Calin's criticism of his statistical procedures, illustrating his own precision in the matter. Argues, in reaction to Calin's overstatement of his position, that "il ne s'agit pas d'ériger une cloison étanche entre les lettrés et les analphabètes, mais simplement de reconnaître la chanson de geste pou r ce qu'elle était, un genre foncièrement populaire, folklorique et oral (qui comprend, cela va sans dire, bon nombre de chefs-d'oeuvre)" (311).
Area: OF, SC, CP

Joseph J. Duggan. "The Manuscript Corpus of the Medieval Romance Epic." In The Medieval Alexander Lengend and Romance Epic: Essays in Honour of David J. Ross. Peter Noble et al., eds. Millwood, NY, London, and Nendeln Liechtenstein: Kraus International Publications.

An overview of the extant corpus of 312 texts and fragments of the medieval Romance epic combining discussion of the nature of the texts, problems in definition, and critical approaches with a description of the chrological distribution of the manuscripts and their contents. Contains a li st of 30 Romance epic manuscripts.
Area: OF

Joseph J. Duggan. "The Manuscript Corpus of the Medieval Romance Epic." In The Medieval Alexander Legend and Romance Epic: Essays in Honour of David J.A. Ross. Ed. Peter Nobl e, Lucie Polak, and Claire Isoz. Milwood, New York, London, and Nedelin, Liechenstein: Kraus International Publications. pp. 29-42.

Catalogs and describes the extant manuscripts of romance epics of the Middle Ages.
Area: OF, HI

Joseph J. Duggan. "Oral Performance, Writing, and the Textual Tradition of the Medieval Epic in the Romance Languages: The Examples of the Song of Roland." Parergon: Bulletin of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Renaissa nce Studies, 2:79-95.

Discusses the interface of written and oral transmission of the Song of Roland and influences upon the extant manuscript corpus of the Old French epic.
Area: OF

Z. Dukat. "Parry, Propp, and Li terary Studies." Ziva antika (Antiquité vivante), 26:149-59.

A brief review of the Homeric Question, starting with Wolf (1795) and concentrating on Parry-Lord oral theory, with favorable remarks about Propp's general methods. Insists that comparative oral theory has so far proven largely unsuccessful because of the nonscientific nature of its formulation and application, and because (unlike Propp) Parry and many of his followers did not explicitly place synchronic before diachronic analysi s. Argues that, although oral and literate poetry differ structurally, we should still consider them together from a literary-critical point of view.
Area: AG, SC, CP

Z. Dukat.. "Homerska ponavlijanja u Mareti_Ivsievu i Djurievu pri jevodu Homera." Ziva Antika, 27, ii:323-36.

Discusses the translations of Homer by Toma Mareti and Milos Djuri. After analyzing 30 groups of three or more verses appearing more than once in the Iliad and Odyssey, he concludes that Mareti succeede d in retaining the repetitiveness of the Homeric originals, while Djuri handled them more freely and thus lost from his translation the Homeric formulaic qualities, distorting the sense of style. Stjepan Ivsi, in his re-edition of Mareti, failed to chang e all identical verses in the same manner.
Area: AG, CP

Z. Dukat. "Vrijednost komparativne metode u homerologiji." Ziva antika (Antiquité vivante), 28:171-78. With English summary, 177-78.

Dismisses the common argument that Homer cannot be compared to the SC guslari on two grounds: (1) "quality" is an irrelevant consideration from the perspective of literary theory (as opposed to that of literary criticism) and (2) a fairer estimate of quality would emerge fro m consideration of the oral poems collected in the nineteenth century by Vuk St. Karadzic
Area: AG, SC, CP

Georges Dumezil. The Stakes of the Warrior. Trans. David Weeks. Ed. Jaan Puhvel. Berkeley: University of California Press.

The English translation of the first third of Dumézil's second volume of Mythe et Epopé (Paris 1971).
Area: IE, OF, AG

Georges Dumezil. "L'Epopée narte." In L'Epopée vivante, a special issue of La Table Ronde, 132:42-55.

Prim arily a historico-geographical and content-based study of oral epic from the Narte, a people living in the Caucasus north of the Black Sea in what is today the Soviet Union. Summarizes texts gathered from the 1870's onward, detailing aspects of the mytho logy and its chief heroic figures, with emphasis on the Indo-European tripartite structure underlying its organization.
Area: NR

Henry Dunbar, comp. A Complete Concor dance to the Odyssey and Hymns of Homer. Rev. and ed. Benedetto Marzullo, 1880. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.

Single-word listing with lines and line numbers. An appendix records revisions and additions.
Area: AG, CC

Alan Dund es. "From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales." Journal of American Folklore, 75:95-105.

Working from Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale and Kenneth Pike's Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of H uman Behavior, he distinguishes "etic" units, those which are nonstructural, external, and created by the analyst, from "emic" units, which are structural and organically a part of the narrative situations in which they occur. Labeling this latter unit, which only exists relative to the system it participates in composing, the motifeme, he illustrates how tale-type analysis is etic and the Proppian function emic. Recommends motifemic analysis as a significant improvement over tale-type taxonomy. An inf luential article whose central concerns about synchronic analysis run parallel to Parry-Lord oral theory.
Area: FK, TH

Alan Dundes. The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales. FFC no. 195. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeaka temia.

Employing a blend of Propp's and Pike's structuralist theories (see Dundes 1962) and an analytical program that includes the concepts of motifeme and allomotif, he explores the structure of AI folktales. Finds that they are "structured and should no longer be considered as haphazard and random conglomerates of free-floating motifs" (p. 110). An important and often-cited epitomization of the synchronic, morphological approach to the materials of oral tradition that may be fruitfully compare d to the analyses of Parry and Lord.
Area: FK, TH

Alan Dundes. "Texture, Text, and Context." Southern Folklore Quarterly, 28:251-65.

In an important theoretical article he calls for taking account of all three dimension s of folklore_texture (the language), text, and context (of the tale or event)_in order to achieve a sound definition of various genres. All three levels can be analyzed, with etic and emic units for each (see Dundes 1962), and interrelated. Some commen ts on folklore and oral tradition included.
Area: FK, TH

Alan Dundes. "Metafolklore and Oral Literary Criticism." The Monist, 50:505-16.

As a means of uncovering the context of folklore, he proposes the collection of "or al literary criticism," or native source information revealing the attitudes of raconteurs and their audiences toward their tales.
Area: FK, TH

Alan Dundes, Jerry W. Leach, and Bora Ozkok. "The Strategy of Turkish Boys' Verba l Dueling Rhymes." In Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication. Ed. John J. Gumperz and Dell Hymes. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. pp. 130-60 [ed. intro., pp. 130-33; article, pp. 133-60].

Studies the oral tradit ion of ritual insult exchanges among Turkish boys from ages eight to fourteen. Finds that such exchanges have two structural principles: (1) one must "force one's opponent into a female, passive role" through a verbal homosexual assault; and (2) "the ret ort must end-rhyme with the initial insult" (p. 135). The duel tests each participant's knowledge of the retort traditions, as demonstrated by his ability to remember and produce an appropriate formulaic attack or reply.
Area: TK

Peter N. Dunn. "Levels of Meaning in the Poema de mio Cid." Modern Language Notes, 85:109-19.

Interprets the Cid and works like it as functioning to st rengthen the cultural identity of the audience, to link past and present and to configure myth as evidence of cultural vitality. Compare Havelock 1963.
Area: HI

C .J. Dunn. "Ainu." In Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry. Volume One: The Traditions. Ed. by A.T. Hatto. Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 9. London: The Modern Humanities Research Association, pp. 328-44.

An overvi ew of the heroic and epic traditions of the Ainu peoples of northern Japan, offering a description of religion, cults, and gods as well as a discussion of Ainu literature (which is completely oral) and its various genres. Discusses possible origins of th e Ainu epic tradition and describes modes of its performance.
Area: JP

Marcello Durante. "Epea pteroenta. La parola comme ` cammino' in immagini greche e vediche." Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Rendiconti. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologische, 8 ser., 13:3-14.

Understands certain formulaic cores as "pathways" (both synchronic and diachronic) int o the traditional imagination of AG and Vedic Sanskrit poetry, citing parallel phraseology from other IE traditions.
Area: AG, SK, IE, CP

Marcello Durante. Sulla preistoria della tradizione poetica greca. Parte prima: Continuità ; della tradizione poetica dall'età micenea ai primi documenti. Incunabula Graeca, vol. 50. Rome: Edizioni dell'Ateneo.

Chiefly a consideration of the possibility of continuity between the Mycenaean era and Homeric poetic tradition, seeing the oral tradition postulated by Parry as an Ionic phase in the development of the epic. Prefers to temper Parry's original notions by admitting the possibility of employing traditional methods within a written style (see espec. pp. 57-62).
Area: AG, CP

Brian Dutton. La "Vida de San Millán de la Cogolla" de Gonzalo de Berceo: Estudio y edición c rítica. Coleccion Támesis, Serie A, Monografias, 4. London: Tamesis.

Includes an illustration of how elements such as formulas and epic similes enter into characterization even in the learned and lettered clerezia tradition (espec. pp. 175-82).
Area: HI

Jacqueline Duvernay-Bolens. "All but One: The Sense of Moderation in Toba and Matako Myths." Journal of Folklore Research, 20:171-84.

A study of the recurring formulaic expressions equivale nt to the Modern English phrase "all but one" in oral narratives of the Toba and Matako tribes of the Pilcomayo River basin of Paraguay. Notes the widely divergent range of uses of the formulas and identifies two particular applications: situations in wh ich "all but one" member of a group are successively selected and those in which only one is selected and all others dismissed. Cites seven examples from Toba and Matako narrative myth.
Area: SAI

Robert R. Dyer. "The Prospects of Computerized Research of Homer." Revue: Organisation internationale pour l'étude des langues anciennes par ordinateur (Université de Liège), 4:25-29.

Suggests international cooperation in the preparation of machine-readable te xts, directed primarily toward the Edinburgh Homer Experiment's tapes, and for subsequent analysis by computer.
Area: AG

Robert R. Dyer. "Towards Computational Procedures in Homeric Scholarship." Revue: Organisation internationale pour l'étude des langues anciennes par ordinateur (Université de Liège), 5:1-54.

In Part II (17-32), he devises a system for automatic analysis of formulaic structures, leading to a reconstruction of compositional techniques. The program would include four stages of study: (1) word-shape, (2) compositional word-type, (3) metrical word-type, and (4) the extension or composition of a word into one of the basic cola of the Homeric hexameter.
Area: AG

M. Dyson. "The Second Assembly of the Gods in the Odyssey." Antichthon, 4:1-12.

Argues on literary-critical grounds for the second assembly (at the opening of Bk. 5) as part of the master poet's work. Sees this scene as indicative of literary rather than oral composition.
Area: AG

Wolfram Eberhard. Minstrel Tales from Southeastern Turkey. Folklore Studies, 5. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Describes this characteristic Turkish oral genre, "similar in form to the medieval German `Volksbuch' or to the `chantefable' of France and Spain" (p. 1). Considers (1) the social function of minstrels and their stories relative to the population of southeastern Turkey, (2) the oral transmission of fables, and (3) changes in the tales during transition from oral to written form. Specific comments on four tales (Elbeyliolu, Ali Pasha, Körolu, and Hursut and Mahmihri) and the ballad Kozanolu.
Area: TK

George Economou. "Some Notes towards Finding a View of the New Oral Poetry." In The Oral Impulse in Contemporary American Poetry. Ed. William V. Spanos and Robert Kroetsch. A special number of Boundary 2, 3, iii:653-63.

Compares the "new oral poetry," so called because of the emphasis by its practitioners (themselves literate craftsmen) on oral performance, with the oral traditions of Yugoslavia, Greece, Anglo-Saxon England, and so on. Points of analogy include the role of a live audience, the question of improvisation, and authors' notation of manuscripts with a view to the oral/aural nature of their poems.
Area: CN, CP

Lowell Edmunds and Alan Dundes, eds. Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook. New York: Garland Publishers.

Presents a comprehensive study of Oedipus folklore, establishing the universal quality of the Oedipus theme. Contains reportings of Oedipal themes in various oral literatures and examines their roots in oral tradition.
Area: AG, FK, CP

Mark W. Edwards. "Some Features of Homeric Craftsmanship." Transactions of the American Philological Association, 97:115-79.

Extensive study of Homeric traditional expression within the hexameter, with emphasis on the nature of enjambement, the "runover" word at the beginning of a line, the use of adjectives in certain metrical positions, and the various syntactic structures in the latter part of the line. Notes (1) the close relationship between sense-units in a sentence and metrical cola, (2) the implications of ornamental words and phrases for the meaning of a sentence, (3) emphasis by means of verse position, and (4) the force of analogy. On the basis of his findings, he envisions an oral poet who is in aesthetic control of his traditional medium and who is composing a poem intended for verbatim (that is, memorized) oral presentation.
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "Some Stylistic Notes on Iliad XVIII." American Journal of Philology, 89:257-83.

Studies the creative and individual features achieved within formulaic diction. Includes consideration of "runover" words, variation after the C-caesura, manipulation of formulas, invention of new phraseology on the analogy of older models, and the use of "filler" adjectives. Attempts to "bring out something of the general flexibility and resources of expression in the early epic style" (259).
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "On Some `Answering' Expressions in Homer." Classical Philology, 64:81-87.

Starting with the observation of striking violations of Parry's law of economy, he derives rules for combination of "answering" formulas and noun-epithet formulas. Sees some signs of a liking for variety of expression and perhaps of aesthetic design on the part of the poet, with a few combinations that seem to resist explanation.
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "Homeric Speech Introductions." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 74:1-36.

Marshals evidence on the flexibility of verses that introduce speeches. Distinguishes (1) introductions with a verb of general sense, (2) introductions with a verb of specific sense, and (3) anomalous forms. Discovers within the formulaic diction "certain identifiable habits of expression" (35) and posits a degree of sophistication in the audience as well as the poetic idiom.
Area: AG

G. Patrick Edwards. The Language of Hesiod in its Traditional Context. Publications of the Philological Society, 22. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Traces traditional diction in Hesiod, including formulas, formulaic systems, enjambement, sound patterns, and analogy, and compares its deployment to that in the Homeric poems. Finds (1) that Hesiod, like Homer, follows the phraseological habits of an oral poet, (2) that his dialect is also much like Homer's, with conspicuous late Ionic elements, and seems to be a traditional patois, (3) that the diction does not argue against unity of authorship of the Theogony and the Works and Days, and (4) that Hesiod probably composed earlier than did Homer.
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "Type-Scenes and Homeric Hospitality." Transactions of the American Philological Association, 105:51-72.

Responds to Gunn 1970 and 1971. Finds that "the regularity of the common type-scenes exerts a compelling force on the poet which can sometimes be seen to result in awkward transitions" (72). Recommends learning the familiar outlines of Homeric narrative composition in order to recognize similarities and special aesthetic effects, and also to avoid unwarranted overexplanation.
Area: AG

Carol L. Edwards. "An Oral-Formulaic Bibliography: Old English and Other Studies." Folklore Preprint Series (Indiana University), 6, v:21-40.

A recent bibliography of oral-formulaic studies, mainly in OE with reference to other traditions. No annotations.
Area: OE, CP, BB

Mark W. Edwards. "Convention and Individuality in Iliad 1." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 84:1-28.

Analysis of Book 1 for type-scenes, with enumeration of scenes and documentation of detail. Includes comparison with other occurrences of the same type-scenes in the Iliad and Odyssey, ending in each case with an estimation of the poet's artistry in putting traditional devices to aesthetic uses.
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "The Structure of Homeric Catalogues." Transactions of the American Philological Association, 110:81-105.

Separates the Greek and Trojan catalogs in Iliad 2 into basic compositional elements and passages of expansion, and applies the results to the study of other catalogs in Homer and Hesiod. Understands the structure not only as a pattern used to preserve information, but also as a formant employed in other sorts of scenes, especially those which illustrate individual as well as traditional craftsmanship.
Area: AG

Mark W. Edwards. "Philology and the Oral Theory." Pacific Coast Philology, 17:1-8.

The annual Presidential Address given to the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast. A brief historical review of the response of oral theory to the Homeric Question, with illustration of the theory's explanatory power as applied to the closing scenes of the Odyssey. Pinpoints the traditional nature of (1) a role shared by two characters, (2) amplification, (3) split or delayed patterns, and (4) the Return sequence. Contends that the rapid closure to Book 24 is not atypical or unconventional but highly traditional, and that it "results not from violating or ignoring the conventions, but from the piling-up of unelaborated type-scenes" (6) without the expansion otherwise characteristic of Homer.
Area: AG, OE, CP

John W. Ehrstine. "Patterns of Sound in Anglo-Saxon Poetry." Research Studies (Washington State University), 33:151-62.

Assuming throughout that OE poetry is oral traditional in the original Parry-Lord-Magoun sense, he contends that alliterative patterns are more important in OE than in modern English verse because the former is appreciated primarily aurally and because its stress system metrically highlights certain sounds. Describes six kinds of sub-alliterative sound patterns that enrich the aural texture of the poetry and claims that "[Beowulf's] excellence is one of oral style and technique, or in other words, of sound patterns" (162).
Area: OE

Raymond Eichmann. "Oral Composition: A Recapitulatory View of its Nature and Impact." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 80:97-109.

A highly selective review of a few works on oral theory in various literatures, mainly OF. Contains a plea for "scientific" study of formula and theme.
Area: OF, CP

Stefan Einarsson. A History of Icelandic Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Rpt. 1959, 1969.

Mentions briefly the various theories on the role of oral tradition in the composition of the sagas (espec. pp. 111-29).
Area: ON

Stefan Einarsson. "Harp Song Heroic Poetry (Chadwicks) Greek and Germanic Alternate Singing: Mantic Song in Lapp Legend Eddas, Sagas and Sturlunga" [sic]. Budkavlen, 42:13-28.

Brief comments on Wrenn 1962 and Creed 1962 before plunging into a discussion of the possibility of alternate singing in various traditions. Bases his rather disorganized and speculative remarks on H. and N. Chadwick 1932-40.
Area: OE, FN, ON, AG, CP

Elie Ekogamve. "La Littérature orale des Fang/The Oral Literature of the Fang" [in French and English both]. African Arts/Arts d'Afrique, 2:14-19, 77-78.

A largely ethnographic survey of the various genres of oral literature, with emphasis on the mvet narrative, a type of heroic recitation. Notes the extensive repertoires of mvet singers and the role of social situation and audience, as well as the formulaic structure of shorter tales and proverbs.
Area: AF

Norman E. Eliason. "The `Improvised Lay' in Beowulf." Philological Quarterly, 31:171-79.

Denies that lines 870b-74a refer to an "improvised lay" in Beowulf's honor and, further, that this or any other of the apparent accounts of a singer's activities in the poetry have any real validity as evidence bearing on the composition of heroic poetry.
Area: OE

Norman E. Eliason. "The yle and Scop in Beowulf." Speculum, 38:267-84.

Sees the epithets thyle ("orator, entertainer"; also "scurrilous jester") and scop ("singer") as two aspects of the single character Unferth, so that the Finn Episode, for example, comes from the same source as does the verbal attack on Beowulf.
Area: OE

Norman E. Eliason. "Two Old English Scop Poems." Publications of the Modern Language Association, 81:185-92.

Follows earlier arguments (1952 and 1963) in denying the scop authorship of the poems Widsith and Deor. Instead he views them as begging poems cleverly disguised by the use of the scop as a narrative persona.
Area: OE

Norman E. Eliason. "Deor_A Begging Poem?" In Medieval Literature and Civilization: Studies in Memory of G.N. Garmonsway. Ed. Derek A. Pearsall and Ronald A. Waldron. London: University of London Press. pp. 55-61.

Contends that Deor is an exceptionally clever poem rather than a consolation poem and concludes that the OE scop may have been less highly respected and more skilled than has heretofore been thought.
Area: OE

Johann-Ernst Ellendt. Über den Einfluss des Metrums auf Wortbildung und Wortverbindung. Konigsberg: Programm Altstadtisches Gymnasium. Rpt. as "Einiges über den Einfluss des Metrums auf den Gebrauch von Wortformen und Wortverbindungen im Homer." In his Drei homerische Adhandlungen. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1864. Rpt. also Homer: Tradition und Neuerung. Ed. Joachim Latacz. Wege der Forschung, Band 463. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesell-schaft, 1979. pp. 60-87.

An important influence on Parry's development of the concept of formula. Furnishes examples of the influence of the hexameter on word-grouping in the Homeric poems.
Area: AG

Ralph W.V. Elliott. "Landscape and Rhetoric in the Middle-English Alliterative Poetry." Melbourne Critical Review, 4:65-76.

Much concerned with preserving the pictorial and verbal art of the ME romances against what he conceives of as the threat posed by oral-formulaic theory.
Area: ME

Ralph W.V. Elliott. "Byrhtnoth and Hildebrand: A Study in Heroic Technique." Comparative Literature, 14:53-70. Rpt.in Studies in Old English Literature in Honor of Arthur G. Brodeur. Ed. Stanley B. Greenfield. Eugene: University of Oregon, 1963. Rpt. New York: Russell and Russell, 1973. pp. 53-70.

Argues that oral-formulaic diction need not prevent a poem from achieving greatness, citing examples from The Battle of Maldon and the Hildebrandslied to illustrate how traditional phraseology can be adapted to context and rhetorical purpose. The larger narrative structure and the poet's sense of the dramatic are also crucial elements.
Area: OE, OHG, CP

Alison G. Elliott. "The Triumphus sancti Remacli: Latin Evidence for Oral Composition." Romance Philology, 32:292-98.

Interprets a passage in the Triumphus as oral composition and performance of a hagiographic narrative by a jongleur. Claims that such saints' lives were thus not exclusively the work of clerics but could be improvised by oral poets.
Area: OF, LT, CP

Gerald F. Else. Homer and the Homeric Problem. Lectures in Memory of Louise Taft Semple. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati. Rpt. University of Cincinnati Classical Studies, 1 (1967): 315-65.

A historical study of evidence bearing on the Homeric Question from Wolf's Prolegomena through the Analyst-Unitarian controversy and on to Parry-Lord oral theory, including references to archaeological findings and discoveries having to do with the invention and dissemination of writing (Part I). The second part deals with the impact of these data and the artistic quality of the Iliad and Odyssey.
Area: AG

Gerald F. Else. The Origin and Early Form of Greek Tragedy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Rpt. New York: Norton, 1972.

Ascribes to Solon the establishment of the Panathenaic Festival, which "seals the death warrant of the ancient art of oral epic composition by prescribing a fixed text and by choosing for recitation just two poems [the Iliad and Odyssey], which are thereby set above all others as the `best'" (p. 47), and which brings Homeric education to Attica.
Area: AG

Gerald F. Else. "Response" to Lord 1976a. In Oral Literature and the Formula. Ed. Benjamin A. Stolz and Richard S. Shannon. Ann Arbor: Center for the Coordination of Ancient and Modern Studies, University of Michigan. pp. 17-19.

Suggests that the ancient patterns involved in the Odyssean Telemacheia and the Iliadic depiction of Achilles' special armor are old sequences of ideas put to new uses by a master or monumental poet. Also sees parallels between ancient Greece and medieval Serbia in the cultural function of heroic song.
Area: AG, SC, CP

E. 'Nolue Emenanjo. "The Anecdote as an Oral Genre: The Case in Igbo." Folklore, 95:171-76.

Provides folktale and joke comparands of anecdotes collected from the Igbo people of Nigeria, and discusses the generic problems associated with the study of anecdotes since "even in cultures where these genres [folktales, proverbs, other gnomic forms, folksongs and verses, riddles and tongue twisters] have been identified, it is not always the case that languages of these cultures have distinct, non-sentential names for each of the genres" (171).
Area: AF

Murray B. Emeneau. "The Songs of the Todas." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 77:543-60.

Reports a highly developed and widespread song tradition, with songs composed continually by all members of the society and transmitted quickly and easily. Discussion of song structure includes mention of repeated phraseology and set narrative pieces, giving the impression that there is "little room for originality in Toda song" (552).
Area: TD

Murray B. Emeneau. "Oral Poets of South India_The Todas." Journal of Americal Folklore, 71:312-24. Rpt. in Traditional India: Structure and Change. Ed. Milton Singer. Philadelphia: American Folklore Society, 1959. pp. 106-18. Rpt. in Language in Culture and Society. Ed. Dell Hymes. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. pp. 330-40.

Magisterial account of the oral poetic tradition of the Todas, as collected, published, and analyzed by the author. Brief commentary on oral poetry in Sanskrit leads to description of fieldwork, the verbal and musical texts of songs, prosodic structure, sociolinguistic milieu, modes of performance, the poetic language, and the aesthetic dimensions of the poetry.
Area: TD

Murray B. Emeneau. "Style and Meaning in an Oral Literature." Language, 42:323-45.

Explores the structure of the oral poetic language of Toda songs. Examines syntactic and morphological aspects of song-units, finding four kinds of formulaic repetition: (1) parallel sentences, (2) linear repetition of stem morphemes (called "responsion" by investigators in other literatures), (3) phonemic redundancy without semantic agreement (compare Peabody 1975 and Lord 1956b), and (4) homonym pairing or its near equivalent. Illustrates convincingly how sound can, from a generative point of view, precede and determine semantics in the formation of formulaic speech.
Area: TD

Murray B. Emeneau, ed. Toda Songs. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Introduction includes sections on singers, origins and history of songs, ethnographic context, and structure. Original texts and translations followed by a concordance of song-units.
Area: TD, CC

Murray B. Emeneau. Ritual Structure and Language Structure of the Todas. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

A detailed analysis of the Toda language, illustrating the manner in which it is varied in ways that parallel the structure of the society and its rituals.
Area: TD

Nathaniel B. Emerson. Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 38. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Primarily a collection of Hawaiian songs related to the hula, a religious ritual occasion for retelling the legends of the nation as well as a source of entertainment. Includes explanations of the songs, description of their oral composition, and histories of their occurrence or function.
Area: HW

C.J. Emlyn-Jones. "eto and eniauto in Homeric Formulae." Glotta, 45:156-61.

Argues that the weight of evidence indicates a near-identical meaning for these two words, and that the only clear distinction is through their role in formulaic diction in different parts of the hexameter line. Raises the question of meaning in oral traditional poetry.
Area: AG

Richard L. Enos. "The Hellenic Rhapsode." Western Journal of Speech Communication, 42:134-43.

Traces the development of a rhapsodic tradition up through the time of Hellenic classical rhetoric, focusing on the changing Greek language and the introduction of written literature as shaping influences. Claims that it fell to the rhapsodes to preserve the oral nature of Homeric Greek.
Area: AG

William J. Entwistle. European Balladry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Discusses the identity, origin, and spread of ballads, which he defines as "short traditional narrative songs, with or without accompaniment or dance, in assemblies of the people" (pp. 16-17). The second section is divided into separate treatments of Romance, Nordic, Balkan, and Russian ballads, with subsections devoted to the traditions of individual countries.
Area: FB, CP

Hartmut Erbse. Beiträge zum Verständnis der Oydssee. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Contends that the Homeric poems were composed with the aid of writing, arguing that (1) Homeric diction is not made up entirely of fixed formulas, (2) modern oral poetry cannot serve as an analogy for Homeric epic, and (3) the Iliad and Odyssey cannot have been composed orally because transmission would have disturbed narrative order (espec. pp. 178-88).
Area: AG

Aurelio M. Espinosa. El Romancero español: Sus Orígenes y su historia en la literatura universal. Madrid: Librería General de Victorians Suarez.

This introductory book, aimed primarily at teachers of Spanish literature, outlines the heroic grandeur, artistic value, and historical significance of the romancero. Also discusses the oral tradition behind the genre, its influence on Spanish literature and theater, and the continuing oral tradition in the Hispanic world.
Area: HI

Aurelio M. Espinoza. The Folklore of Spain in the American Southwest: Traditional Spanish Folk Literature in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Ed. J. Manuel Espinoza. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press.

The first publication of Espinoza's compiled fieldwork from the late 1930s, this study describes the Spanish folk literature of a region of the American southwest that has been almost completely isolated from the rest of the Spanish-speaking world since its settlement in the late 16th century. Part One of the book, written by the author's son, J. Manuel Espinoza, is a biographical account of the career, fieldwork, and methodology of Aurelio M. Espinoza, the pioneer folklorist of Hispanic New Mexico. Part Two is a compilation of the senior Espinoza's fieldwork in the traditional Spanish folk literature of the area, covering folk ballads, religious folk literature, proverbs, folktales, and traditional religious and secular folk drama. Two appendices describe the Spanish dialects of the area and the nature of Spanish literary traditions among the Pueblo Indians. Also included are a comprehensive bibliography of the writings of Aurelio M. Espinoza and an extensive selective bibliography of works in the field.
Area: AI, HI

Peter G. Evarts. "The Technique of the Medieval Minstrel as Revealed in the Sicilian Contastoria." Studies in Medieval Culture, 6-7:117-27.

Documents the living oral traditional performance of the contastoria, basing the analysis on his own fieldwork and recording. Finds the Sicilian minstrel's technique a hybrid improvisational method, "intermediate between orally composed and merely recited narrative" (117), and proposes it as a model for medieval French chansons de geste and medieval English tail-rhyme romances. Demonstrates thematic structure and a kind of formulaic phraseology in the prose contastoria, and provides a description of oral performance by the singer Giuseppe Celano, a literate performer of what Lord has called "autograph oral" texts.
Area: IT, OF, ME, CP

Dorothy Everett. Essays on Middle English Literature. Ed. Patricia Kean. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Describes the twelfth-century alliterative poet Layamon (pp. 36-45) as a craftsman who inherited traditional formulas and who was occasionally able to use them organically, that is, to aesthetic advantage.
Area: ME

Larry Evers, ed. The South Corner of Time: Hopi Navajo Papago Yaqui Tribal Literature. Sun Tracks. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Each of the four sections is devoted to a different tribal literature and contains a core of oral narratives, including songs, tales, and autobiographical and historical accounts. The editor notes the importance of keeping the intended audience in mind, since that audience brings to the performance innumerable associations gained from prior experience.
Area: AI

Daniel Fabre and Jacques Lacroix. La Tradition orale du conte occitan: Les Pyrénées audoises, 2 vols. Publications de l'Institut d'Etudes Occitanes. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

In these two volumes the authors examine the still extant oral tradition in Languedoc, that form of Old French that survives among peasants in southern France and particularly in Provençal. Volume 1 includes sections on the ethnography of the region, the conteurs, various genres, the nature of oral texts, narrative structure, sociocultural dimensions, and the fieldwork. Volume 2 contains 13 examples of contes merveilleux et romanesques, with original language texts, translations into modern French, and commentary.
Area: LG

Lyndsay Farrall. "Knowledge and its Preservation in Oral Cultures." Oral Tradition in Melanesia. Ed. by Donald Denoon. Port Moresby, New Guinea: University of Papua, New Guinea and Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. pp. 71-87.

Demonstrates the reliability of seafaring instructions passed in various oral forms among sailors in the Pacific.
Area: ML

Stephanie Farrall. "Sung and Written Epics_the Case of the Song of Roland." In Oral Tradition in Melanesia. Ed. by Donald Denoon. Port Moresby, New Guinea: University of Papua, New Guinea and Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. pp. 101-14.

Discusses the survival in the oral tradition and the eventual literate recording of the medieval French traditions surrounding Charlemagne.
Area: OF

Thomas J. Farrell. "IQ and Standard English." College Composition and Communication, 34:470-84.

Presents an environmental hypothesis to account for the problem of black children scoring lower than white children on standardized IQ tests, taking exception to Arthur R. Jensen's hypothesis that such differences could be accounted for by a hereditary or genetic explanation. Suggests that the essentially oral culture of American blacks can account for much of the disparity in IQ scores, and concludes that "IQ test scores reveal that black ghetto children have not developed the power of abstract thinking and they do not speak and write standard English" (481) and that "IQ differences have nothing to do with genetics or race per se, but can be accounted for entirely in terms of environmental or cultural differences" (481).
Area: TH

Charles B. Faulhaber "Neo-traditionalism, Formulism, Individualism, and Recent Studies on the Spanish Epic." Romance Philology, 30:83-101.

A full analytical review of related studies on the origin and composition of Spanish epic, from the original proposals of Menendez Pidal on "neotraditionalism" through the oral-formulaic and other theories of the mid-1970s.
Area: HI

Ferdinand Fellmann. "Style formulaire und epische Zeit im Rolandslied." Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, 43, n.f. 12:337-60.

Drawing on Rychner's (1955) analysis of laisse structure, he explains parallelism and other traditional devices as intended to shape the time of the narrative, to align episodes and moments through parallel diction and narrative organization.
Area: OF

Bernard C. Fenik. Typical Battle Scenes in the Iliad: Studies in the Narrative Techniques of Homeric Battle Description. Hermes Einzelschriften, 21. Wiesbaden: Steiner.

A study of recurrent details in the narrative scenes of battle in the Iliad, with line-by-line analysis of the descriptive elements. Demonstrates that virtually all of these scenes consist of repeated details and action-sequences in different combinations. An excellent, thoroughgoing source for narrative analysis.
Area: AG

Bernard C. Fenik. Studies in the Odyssey. Hermes Einzelschriften, 30. Wiesbaden: Steiner.

An analysis of various scenes and larger problems of interpretation in the Odyssey, using a combination of literary criticism and the concepts and techniques developed by Parry and his successors. Attempts to apply oral theory to whole scenes, blocks of scenes, and more extensive sections of narrative. Investigates the role of "doublets" (two or more characters strikingly similar in personality and actions, similar incidents occurring in connection with the same or different persons, or action sequences that happen twice or more).
Area: AG

Bernard C. Fenik. "Homer and Writing: Some Reflections on H. Erbse's Beiträge zum Verständnis der Odyssee." Wurzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft, n.f. 2:37-47.

Argues, contra Erbse 1972, that (1) the diction of the Homeric epic does not preclude composition by an oral poet, and (2) the difference in quality between Homer and modern oral poetry may be an impression given by the paucity of material on both sides of the comparison. Believes that "the dividing line between Mündlichkeit and Schriftlichkeit remains one that we can still not accurately draw" (47, italics deleted).
Area: AG

Bernard C. Fenik, ed. Homer: Tradition and Invention. University of Cincinnati Classical Studies, n.s. 2. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

The proceedings of a symposium held at the University of Cincinnati in 1976, this volume consists of five essays that exemplify collectively the two quite separate strains of modern Homeric scholarship which the editor seeks to unite: the oral poetry studies characteristic of American and English writings and the more traditional Neoanalytical investigation characteristic of German scholarship. Individually annotated are Fenik (1978b), Hainsworth, Heubeck, Hoelscher, and Kirk.
Area: AG, CP

Bernard C. Fenik. "Stylization and Variety: Four Monologues in the Iliad." In Homer: Tradition and Invention. Ed. Bernard C. Fenik. University of Cincinnati Classical Series, n.s. 2. Leiden: E.J. Brill. pp. 68-90.

Studies four occurrences of a single episode in the Iliad, which consists of (1) a single warrior facing unequal odds, (2) a monologue pondering the alternatives of retreat or resistance, (3) a simile of animal against man, and (4) escape. All four scenes follow this pattern except the one involving Hector (Book 22), who tries to escape but cannot. Convincingly demonstrates both the traditional structure of the episodes and the individual, context-sensitive nature of each. Acknowledges that the unevenness of the Homeric texts is partially accounted for by oral theory, but that we cannot yet explain how artistic brilliance can occur alongside apparent lapses in poetic craft.
Area: AG

J. Antonio Fernandez Delgado. "Poesía oral gnómica en `Los Trabajos y los días': una muestra de su dicción formular." Emerita, 46:141-71.

Detects in Hesiod's Works and Days evidence of an oral gnomic tradition distinct from the Homeric tradition. Sees the formulaic occurrences of aner as proof of this hypothesis, since they are nearly unique to the Works and Days but still traditional in their metrics and morphology.
Area: AG

Merle Fifield. "Thirteenth-Century Lyrics and the Alliterative Tradition." Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 62:111-18.

A quantitative study of the formulaic phraseology of ME lyrics, with evidence of the preservation of OE diction through the late ME period and distinctions among various periods and genres within ME.
Area: ME, OE, CP

John Finlayson. "Formulaic Technique in Morte Arthure." Anglia: Zeitschrift für englische Philologie, 81:372-93.

After a short review of Parry's and Waldron's (1957) studies, he considers three ME alliterative chronicle-romances (The Destruction of Troy, The Wars of Alexander, and the Morte Arthure) in terms of their authors' more or less artistic use of formulaic tradition. As the result of looking closely at the morphology of a few chosen formulas, he concludes that the oral-formulaic method does not constrict poets but provides a discipline similar to that of the rhetorical arts. Sees the oral composition of these romances as composition intended for oral performance.
Area: ME

Moses I. Finley. The World of Odysseus. London: Chatto and Windus. Rpt. 1956 et seq.

In Chapter 2 ("Bards and Heroes," pp. 26-50), he considers the questions of oral poetry, the Yugoslav analogy, the role of the audience, the Homeridae, Homer's knowledge of Mycenae, and formulaic diction. Assumes that the final Iliad and Odyssey poets were monumental composers who made use of writing.
Area: AG, CP

John H. Finley. Homer's Odyssey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

A general study of the Odyssey nonetheless aware of current research on virtually all fronts. Explains the recurrence of oral style as a method of affirming traditional connections but also of presenting emergent ideas by new juxtapositions of familiar elements. Notes that "what was previously fixed and comprehensible must move over to accept [the emergent], by old language taking on new overtones, by changed emphasis and train of priority, and by new words. All these changes clearly took place in the course of the oral tradition, and Homer certainly made them_his command assures that_but in what ways is unknown." (pp. 75-76).
Area: AG

Ruth H. Finnegan, comp. and trans. Limba Stories and Story-Telling. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Treats the oral prose literature that permeates Limba society. After an introductory ethnographic chapter, she discusses the types of Limba stories; the occasions, audience, and teller; style and technique; and story genesis. Part II includes English translations of a number of the tales.
Area: AF

Ruth H. Finnegan. "Attitudes to the Study of Oral Literature in British Social Anthropology." Man, n.s. 4, no. 1:59-69.

Criticizes British anthropologists for their lack of attention to oral literature, especially in Africa, in contrast to their many contributions of African ethnography. Stresses the importance of a sociology of oral literature.
Area: AF

Ruth H. Finnegan. "Attitudes to Speech and Language among the Limba of Sierra Leone." Odu: A Journal of West African Studies, n.s. 2:61-77.

Shows the sophistication of the largely nonliterate Limba in three areas: their sense of the relativity of language, the presence of a literature valued for its own sake as a commentary on humanity and the world, and a developed philosophy of speech. Goes on to argue that neither their awareness of linguistic relativity nor their tendency toward abstract thought can be traced to the oral/written question, but that oral tradition does involve a fluidity of texts, an emphasis on the social context of speaking rather than on words as entities, and a more innovative educational process than might be expected. Her general conclusion is that "first, the distinction commonly made between literate and non-literate societies may not be as clear-cut as is often assumed; and secondly that some of the specific characteristics of at least one non-literate society may not be as wholly attributable to the fact of their non-literacy as it might seem at first sight" (75).
Area: AF

Ruth H. Finnegan Oral Literature in Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

An encyclopedic reference work on the oral literatures of Africa, with comments on oral performance, audience, history of scholarship, and social, linguistic, and literary background. Treats the poet's métier, various poetic genres (panegyric, elegy, religious verse, lyric, children's poems, etc.), prose forms (narrative, proverbs, riddles, oratory), drum language, and drama.
Area: AF

Ruth H. Finnegan "A Note on Oral Tradition and Historical Evidence." History and Theory, 9:195-201.

Discusses two assumptions that historians sometimes make about the nature of oral tradition in Africa, namely that it is "something unitary and self-evident and that it is somehow impervious to many of the factors which historians usually take account of in critical assessment of sources" (195). Surveys three broad categories of oral tradition: recognized literary forms, general historical knowledge, and personal recollections ("the best sources of all," 199).
Area: AF

Ruth H. Finnegan. "Literacy Versus Illiteracy: The Great Divide? Some Comments on the Significance of `Literature' in Non-literate Cultures." In Modes of Thought: Essays on Thinking in Western and Non-Western Societies. Ed. Robin Horton and Ruth Finnegan. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 112-44.

Finds "nonliteracy" an inexact term too hastily applied to a number of very different situations. Urges caution and questions the assumption of a fundamental division between oral and written.
Area: AF, CP

Ruth H. Finnegan. "How Oral is Oral Literature?" Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), 37:52-64.

Cites overall cultural context as an unsatisfactory means of identifying oral literature, maintaining that the criteria susceptible to analysis include (1) mode of composition, (2) mode of transmission, and (3) actualization in performance. In considering the first, she argues against the restrictiveness of Lord's concepts. Finds the second criterion difficult to apply with accuracy and third entailing problems of definition with the term "performance." Once again she contends that the distinction between oral and written is not clear-cut.
Area: AF, CP

Ruth H. Finnegan. "Can There Be an Unbiased Sociology of Literature? Some Comments on the Need for a Comparative Perspective." International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 15:84-102.

Argues for more sociologically oriented work on literature from a comparative point of view in order to balance the purely literary approaches.
Area: CP, TH

Ruth H. Finnegan. "What Is Oral Literature Anyway? Comments in the Lig