Bridge Essay: Shifting Paradigms in Orality, Literacy, and Literature

Abstract

This chapter outlines the �discovery� in the twentieth century of oral traditional art, from the perspective of the Homeric epics. It notes subsequent interest in comparative studies of a vast number of oral traditions from across the globe; it draws attention to the theorizing of oral cultures and oral practices (in particular, a questioning of a binary model of orality versus literacy); it points to the complex role that memory plays in the production of oral traditional song; and, finally, it asks whether we can judge oral art by the same standards that we apply to works of literature.