scholarly journals 'Did you say oral literature?' asked Walter Ong

Literator ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-130
Author(s):  
J. Alant
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Walter Ong ◽  
Oral Theory ◽  
Popular Texts

This article investigates whether there is a theoretical framework for the notion of oral literature that is common to both oral theory and literary theory. The notion of oral literature has, within oral theory, generally been put to an anthropological - rather than literary - use. Because of particular difficulties involved with the appreciation of the textual properties of the oral text, a modernist approach proves unsatisfactory. A solution for the theoretical difficulty of integrating oral literature into literary theory is sought via a particular post-modernist view of literature, namely Anthony Easthope’s reconceptualisation of literary studies as study of signifying practice ("cultural studies") open to both literary and popular texts. Given the exclusivity of the notion of popular culture, centred on misconceptions relating to the constructedness of the oral text, the notion of oral literature continues, however, to operate in a theoretical void.

scholarly journals The man with the phrase book in his head: On the literariness of the illiterate Homer

Literator ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
J. Alant
Keyword(s):  
Oral Literature ◽  
Theoretical Substantiation ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Aesthetic Sense ◽  
Walter Ong ◽  
Oral Theory ◽  
Creative Role ◽  
Role Of The Reader ◽  
Oral Composition

In the early 1930s Milman Parry’s theoretical substantiation of the oral composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey was widely interpreted as a major breakthrough in the field of oral traditional research, even as the founding act of a new discipline – Oral Theory. The “oral-formulaic” theory which underscored this breakthrough has, however, been increasingly criticized in recent times. While acknowledging the fundamental importance of Parry’s work in the field of Oral Theory, the present article seeks to reinterpret the essential orality of the Homeric poems in the light of its broader implications for the recognition of an oral aesthetics/oral literature. Parry’s work on the Iliad and Odyssey has generally been appreciated for its postulation of a characteristically oral textual economy. This article sets out, by contrast, to look more closely at the possibility Parry opens up for the orally composed text to be considered “literature” in its fullest aesthetic sense. Crucial to this is the creative role of the reader/audience in terms of the text’s “horizons of expectations”, that also serve to contradict the famous characterisation by Walter Ong alluded to in the title of this article.

scholarly journals Tracing the Epic Tradition in The Fantaserye: GMA 7’s “Encantadia” As an Epic

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Ralph Edward Paulo Sekito
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Natural Death ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Epic Tradition ◽  
Epic Hero

Popular culture is an emergent study compared to other disciplines. Studies on television as more than a means of entertainment are scarce. As such, this paper is an attempt to fill that dearth by looking into the fantaserye and its relationship with the traditional conventions of the epic. Through the theories on the conventions of the epic and the function of the epic hero propounded by Damiana Eugenio and Isagani Cruz respectively, the researcher looks into the possibility that the fantaserye is inspired from the traditional epic. John Fiske and John Hartley’s notion on television as today’s bard was also utilized in this study. The method used throughout the study is Content analysis. Results show that the fantaserye and the folk epics have similar attributes such as having the epic hero, their travails and adventures, and their physical and moral transformations that embody the group’s beliefs, ideals, and aspirations, although one difference is that the folk epics are either chanted orally and or performed, while the fantaserye “Encantadia” is aired through the aid of the television. And lastly, some characters were inspired from traditional Filipino folk epics and neighboring countries. To conclude, the fantaserye gets its materials and inspiration not only from mythological tales, but also from the folk epics, thus making oral literature survive in another form, but at the same time deviates from these inspirations which makes it a postmodern take of the traditional epic. This proves that the popular culture as a field of study that can be associated to other similar fields such as literary studies. Also, the folk epic did not die a natural death in the oral tradition; it adapted through a medium which is relevant and accessible to all: the television.

Jumbos and Jumping Devils

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha P R
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Social History ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of

Jumbos and Jumping Devils is an original and pioneering exploration of not only the social history of the subcontinent but also of performance and popular culture. The domain of analysis is entirely novel and opens up a bolder approach of laying a new field of historical enquiry of South Asia. Trawling through an extraordinary set of sources such as colonial and post-colonial records, newspaper reports, unpublished autobiographies, private papers, photographs, and oral interviews, the author brings out a fascinating account of the transnational landscape of physical cultures, human and animal performers, and the circus industry. This book should be of interest to a wide range of readers from history, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies to analysts of history of performance and sports in the subcontinent.

Publishing in Bible and American Popular Culture

2020 ◽  
pp. 536-552
Author(s):  
Robert Paul Seesengood
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
American Popular Culture ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Future Work

This essay is an examination of scholarship on the Bible and (American) popular culture. It reviews the history and assumptions of cultural studies and maps how this body of work influenced biblical scholarship after 1990. It surveys an array of examples of scholarship on the Bible and popular culture and concludes with some suggestions for future work. Specifically, this essay asks the following: How has interest in Bible and popular culture affected academic publishing? How did these trends emerge, and what assumptions prompt them? What new journals or series or reference works have appeared that are specifically devoted to this broad topic, and what are some ways that the Bible and popular culture have been treated therein?

Text denken

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 274-291
Author(s):  
Andrea Polaschegg
Keyword(s):  
Literary Theory ◽  
Language Theory ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Literary Theories ◽  
The Media ◽  
New Space ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Tracing the transformations phenomenological thought underwent in the sphere of literary studies after the 1930s, the paper outlines the epistemological potential of this tradition in regards to a proper understanding of the phenomenon ›text‹. Proceeding from reflections on the agonal relation between structuralistic and phenomenological traditions within contemporary literary theory, the article focuses on Husserl’s apprehension of texts as being »objects in procedure« by exploring the impact of this idea on the literary theories of Ingarden, Wellek, and Iser. In light of the - largely forgotten - fact that Karl Bühler’s pioneering Language Theory (1934) is mainly based on phenomenological thinking, the paper finally discusses to what extend Bühler’s idea of verbal expressions figuring as effective events could open a new space for the development of a literary theory of texts within recent debates on the »media of literature«.

scholarly journals The politics of a ‘Poncy Pillowcase’: Migration and borders in Coronation Street’

Politics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandria J Innes ◽  
Robert J Topinka
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Soap Opera ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
And Gender

This article examines the ways in which popular culture stages and supplies resources for agency in everyday life, with particular attention to migration and borders. Drawing upon cultural studies, and specific insights originating from the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, we explore how intersectional identities such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender are experienced in relation to the globalisation of culture and identity in a 2007 Coronation Street storyline. The soap opera genre offers particular insights into how agency emerges in everyday life as migrants and locals navigate the forces of globalisation. We argue that a focus on popular culture can mitigate the problem of isolating migrant experiences from local experiences in migrant-receiving areas.

scholarly journals Literary Anthropology

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Máiréad Nic Craith ◽  
Laurent Sebastian Fournier
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Performances ◽  
Textual Strategies

This special issue on anthropology and literature invited proposals for original contributions focusing on relationships between anthropology and literature. We were especially interested in the following questions: what role does literature play in anthropology? Can literature be considered as ethnography? What are the relationships between anthropology and literature, past and present? Are anthropology and anthropological motives used in literature? We also looked for critical readings of writers as anthropologists and critical readings of anthropologists as writers. Moreover, we wanted to assess the influence of literature on the invention of traditions, rituals and cultural performances. All these different questions and topics are clearly connected with the study of literacy, illiteracy and popular culture. They also lead to questions regarding potential textual strategies for ethnography and the possibilities of bringing together the field of anthropology (more associated with the social sciences) and literary studies (traditionally part of the humanities).

Unstoppable Decay and Relentless Hope: Study of Alterity in Popular Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Adrien Ordonneau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Consequences of capitalism’s crises and their manifestations in arts have deeply modified the way we can approach mental health. As Mark Fisher pointed out in 2009 with his book Capitalist Realism, neoliberalism is using mental illness as a way to keep existing. The capacity to think a way out of alienation is deeply linked with arts and popular culture. The article proposes to study the uncanny dialogue between arts and politics in relationships to people, and mental health. The theoretical framework will show how arts are trying to build a way out of alienation, since 2009. The article will illustrate this research with the study of many artistic practices, including our own. The findings will show how the ambiguous and uncanny relationships with the world is used by artists as a way out of alienation, despite the difficulties occurring with mental health in time of crisis.

V. M. ZHIRMUNSKY AS A FOLKLORIST. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL TYPOLOGY METHODS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-128
Author(s):  
Anna I. Kovalevskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Literary Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Successful Search ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
High Regard ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Further Development

The article considers the main stages in formation of the method for the comparative historical typology the first steps of which were made by A.N. Veselovsky in the second half of the 19 th century. For example, the point elaborated upon in “Historical Poetics” concerning consequential evolution of genres and poetic forms that reflect social reality became the starting point for the further development of that method. Work in this direction was continued later on by V.M. Zhirmunsky. At the beginning of his career in academia he dwelled upon the issues of literary theory and – while keeping “Historical Poetics” in high regard – continued Veselovsky’s work in the field of literary studies. However, turning to folklore material, he managed to develop the basic principles of the comparative historical method: first of all, he had analysed and systematised the extensive epic material, what allowed him to reveal in the folklore work the national and the general, for the successful search and analysis of which the method was necessary. The author analysis of the works of Zhirmunsky, that contain his main ideas, and considers not only his suggestions on how to work with folk material, and also the features of the comparative typological method, as well as the development of Zhirmunsky’s ideas in the works of his students, followers and scientists who came to a similar result on their own (for example, V.Ya. Propp) and influenced further refinement of the methods of comparative typology.

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