Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Kevin B. Maxwell. Bemba Myth and Ritual: The Impact of Literacy on an Oral Culture. American University Series, XI, 2. New York and Berne: Peter Lang.

Basing his analysis on the orality-literacy studies of Walter J. Ong and his own fieldwork among the Bemba in 1978-79 and 1981, Maxwell treats the implications of orality for this people's belief-system and the changes wrought by the onset of literacy. Sophisticated consideration of hermeneutical realities includes observations such as the following on intelligence: "A proverb expresses the idea: Mano nambulwa wisdom consists in being told'" (12).
Area: AF