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Author:   Karl Reichl
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9781032038087

ISBN 10:   103203808
Pages:   270
Publication Date:   31 May 2023
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Settings 1 How to Identify an Oral Epic Oral: shades and grades The challenge of native classification An African interlude The Uzbek dastan 2 The Singer Epic singers: types and terms How to become an epic singer The chain of transmission Creativity and innovation 3 Introducing Performance The ethnography of communication Textualization Part II: Performance 4 Voice Speaking Singing Shamanic voices 5 Gesture Conventional gestures: the Karakalpak jïraw Stylized gestures: the Kyrgyz manaschï Gesture and inspiration Gesture, miming, stage props 6 Oral Epics as Songs Song as vehicle, song as music ‘Riding the song’: the singing of the Kyrgyz epic Manas Music and metre: some examples 7 Voice and Instrument Gusle, qobïz, horse-head fiddle Lute, dutar, dombira The interplay of song and instrument Part III: Interpretation 8 Words, Music, Meaning Meaning and expression What’s in a name? Imitation Leitmotifs in Siberian oral epics Expression and convention 9 The Singer and the Tale Point of View Mythological epics, sacred time First-person narration, shamanic traces The narrator’s presence in the narrative 10 Performance and Interpretation Visualization and imaging Aria and recitative From context to text Appendices A Notes on Oral Epic Traditions B Audio/Video Examples C Discography

Reviews

Underlying The Oral Epic: From Performance to Interpretation are Reichl’s pioneering labor of many decades to inform research on orality in medieval European literatures by means of his extensive fieldwork with Central Asian Turkic oral bards (Parry’s first and unrealized choice as ethnographic subjects to test his path-breaking theory of Homeric composition) and his grounding in musicology, ethno-and otherwise. The book goes beyond this basis, however. It is one of the most broadly comparative single-authored syntheses of research yet produced on living or recently living oral epic traditions worldwide. As such, the book makes a worthy American/oralist complement to synthetic works in the other schools (for example, A. T. Hatto, “Towards an Anatomy of Heroic and Epic Poetry,” in Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry, Vol. 2, 1989; and V. M. Gatsak, Ustnaia ėpicheskaia traditsiia vo vremeni, 1989). Moreover, its conciseness, evenness in treating matters of broad scope, and accessible style make it suitable for use as a textbook. --Daniel Prior, Miami University for Journal of American Folklore

Author Information

Karl Reichl is Professor Emeritus of the University of Bonn (Institute of English, American and Celtic Studies). He has had visiting professorships at Harvard University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, the University of Madison at Wisconsin, and the Karakalpak State University in Nukus. His main research interests lie in medieval oral literature and in contemporary (or near-contemporary) oral epic poetry, especially in the Turkic-speaking areas of Central Asia.

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