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_____________________________________________________________ Volume 1 January 1986 Number 1 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Lee Edgar Tyler John Butcher Juris Dilevko Ellen Dubinski Slavica Publishers, Inc. Slavica Publishers, Inc. For a complete catalog of books from Slavica, with prices and ordering information, write to: Slavica Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 14388 Columbus, Ohio 43214 ISSN: 0883-5365 Each contribution copyright (c) 1986 by its author. All rights reserved. The editor and the publisher assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by the authors. Oral Tradition seeks to provide a comparative and interdisciplinary focus for studies in oral literature and related fields by publishing research and scholarship on the creation, transmission, and interpretation of all forms of oral traditional expression. As well as essays treating certifiably oral traditions, OT presents investigations of the relationships between oral and written traditions, as well as brief accounts of important fieldwork, a Symposium section (in which scholars may reply at some length to prior essays), review articles, occasional transcriptions and translations of oral texts, a digest of work in progress, and a regular column for notices of conferences and other matters of interest. In addition, occasional issues will include an ongoing annotated bibliography of relevant research and the annual Albert Lord and Milman Parry Lectures on Oral Tradition. OT welcomes contributions on all oral literatures, on all literatures directly influenced by oral traditions, and on non-literary oral traditions. Submissions must follow the list-of reference format (style sheet available on request) and must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return or for mailing of proofs; all quotations of primary materials must be made in the original language(s) with following English translations. Authors should submit two copies of all manuscripts. Most contributions will be reviewed by at least one specialist reader and one member of the editorial board before a final decision is reached. Review essays, announcements, and contributions to the Symposium section will be evaluated by the editor in consultation with the board. Oral Tradition will appear three times per year, in January, May, and October. Annual subscription charges are $20 for individuals and $35 for libraries and other institutions. All manuscripts, books for review, items for the annual bibliography, and editorial correspondence should be directed to the editor, John Miles Foley, Department of English, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Subscriptions and related inquiries should be sent to Slavica Publishers, P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, OH 43214. Printed in the United States of America. EDITORIAL BOARD Patricia Arant Mark W. Edwards Brown University Stanford University Russian Ancient Greek Samuel Armistead Ruth Finnegan University of California/Davis Open University Hispanic, comparative African, South Pacific Ilhan Bașgöz Donald K. Fry Indiana University Poynter Institute Turkish Old English Franz H. Bäuml Joseph Harris Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Harvard University Middle High German Old Norse Roderick Beaton Eric A. Havelock King’s College, London Yale Univ. (Emeritus) Modern Greek Ancient Greek Dan Ben-Amos Elizabeth Jeffreys University of Pennsylvania University of Sydney Folklore Byzantine Greek Daniel Biebuyck Michael Jeffreys University of Delaware University of Sydney African Byzantine Greek Issa J. Boullata Minna Skafte Jensen McGill University University of Copenhagen Arabic Ancient Greek, Latin David E. Bynum Werner Kelber Cleveland State University Rice University East European, comparative Biblical Studies Robert P. Creed Robert Kellogg Univ. of Mass./Amherst University of Virginia Old English, comparative Old Germanic, comparative Robert Culley Eleanor Long McGill University Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Biblical Studies Folk Ballad Joseph J. Duggan Albert B. Lord Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Harvard University (Emeritus) French, Spanish, comparative Slavic, comparative Alan Dundes Victor Mair Univ. of Cal./Berkeley University of Pennsylvania Folklore Chinese EDITORIAL BOARD John S. Miletich Alain Renoir Las Vegas, Nevada Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Old Germanic, Old French, comparative comparative D. Gary Miller Bruce A. Rosenberg University of Florida Brown University Linguistics, Ancient Greek Folk narrative, Medieval literature Nada Milošević-Djordjević University of Belgrade Deborah Tannen Serbo-Croatian Georgetown University Linguistics, Discourse theory Michael Nagler Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Dennis Tedlock Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Boston University comparative Native American Gregory Nagy Jeff Todd Titon Harvard University Brown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Music comparative J. Barre Toelken Joseph Nagy Utah State University Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Folklore, Native American Old Irish Leo Treitler Felix J. Oinas SUNY/Stony Brook Indiana University Music Finnish, Russian Ruth Webber Isidore Okpewho Univ. of Chicago (Emerita) University of Ibadan Spanish, comparative African, Ancient Greek D.K. Wilgus Walter J. Ong Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles St. Louis University (Emeritus) Folk Ballad Hermeneutics of orality and literacy Michael Zwettler Ohio State University Jeff Opland Arabic Vassar College African, Old English Burton Raffel Univ. of Denver Translation Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgment .........................................................................................................10 Burton Raffel The Manner of Boyan: Translating Oral Literature ................................................11 Robert Culley Oral Tradition and Biblical Studies ...................................30 Frederick Turner Performed Being: Word Art as a Human Inheritance...................................... 66 Roderick Beaton The Oral Traditions of Modern Greece: A Survey ............................................................................110 Eric Havelock The Alphabetic Mind: A Gift of Greece to the Modern World .............................134 About the Authors....................................................................................................... 151 Meetings and Professional Notes............................................................................... 152 Books Received ..........................................................................................................158 Introduction Tradition demands that an editor of a new scholarly journal perform the ritual gesture of justifying the birth of the new academic child, and certainly any periodical named Oral Tradition cannot afford to ignore either the demands of tradition in general or ritual gestures in particular. Nonetheless, those of us assisting at the delivery feel strongly that in this case the proverbial claim that the new medium “fi lls a gap” really does contain a modicum of truth. For nowhere in the hallowed halls of academia have we found a journal devoted exclusively to the study of oral tradition in its many forms, nowhere a single, central periodical through which scholars in this wide variety of specialties might communicate. And in recent years this simple “gap” has grown into a chasm: there are now more than one hundred separate language areas affected by studies in oral tradition, among them ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Old French, medieval Spanish, and dozens more; and the disciplines summoned to this collaborative undertaking include, at a minimum, literary history and criticism, folklore, anthropology, linguistics, and history. Thus it is that Oral Tradition is being inaugurated to inform specialists of parallel developments in their own and different areas, to build and maintain bridges among disciplines in order to promote the healthy growth of the fi eld as a whole. Our publishing program has been tailored to correspond to the various aspects of research and scholarship on oral tradition and on “literary” forms with roots in oral tradition. Especially over the fi rst few years, and to some extent at regular intervals after that, we shall be featuring a series of survey or state-of-the-art essays, reviews of previous work on important areas intended to advise specialists in other fi elds of the current state of scholarship outside their own immediate areas of expertise, and in this way to facilitate comparative work. The fi rst year of publication will see such essays on ancient Greek, Biblical studies, Old Irish, Old English, medieval Spanish, modern Greek, and Middle High German. We shall also present a number of analytical essays, treating problems of many sorts in a wide range of fi elds. And alongside these two types of articles will stand more occasional reports on ongoing or recent fi eldwork, which will allow readers to keep up to date with current fi eld projects. In addition to individual scholarly essays, Oral Tradition is committed to other kinds of forums for dissemination of the best and latest thinking in this multidisciplinary consortium. We shall be publishing a number of special issues on particular areas or genres, each of them edited by a scholar of eminence. Thus, over the fi rst fi ve years plans have been made for special issues on Native American (ed. Barre Toelken), the Hispanic