Minchin, ElizabethKen Seigneurie2020-07-15978-1-118-99318-7http://hdl.handle.net/1885/206231This 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.application/pdfen-AU© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, LtdBridge Essay: Shifting Paradigms in Orality, Literacy, and Literature202010.1002/9781118635193.ctwl00182020-12-20