_____________________________________________________________ Volume 3 January-May 1988 Number 1-2 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Adam Davis Sarah Feeny Patrick Gonder Nancy Hadfield Michelle Mitchell-Foust Lee Edgar Tyler 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) 1988 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, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, 301 Read Hall, 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 Burton Raffel Las Vegas, Nevada Univ. of Southwestern Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Louisiana comparative Translation D. Gary Miller Alain Renoir University of Florida Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Linguistics, Ancient Greek (Emeritus) Old Germanic, Old French, Nada Milošević-Djordjević comparative University of Belgrade Serbo-Croatian Bruce A. Rosenberg Brown University Michael Nagler Folk narrative, Medieval Univ. of Cal./Berkeley literature Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, comparative Deborah Tannen Georgetown University Gregory Nagy Linguistics, Discourse theory Harvard University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Dennis Tedlock comparative SUNY/Buffalo Native American Joseph Falaky Nagy Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Jeff Todd Titon Old Irish Brown University Music Jacob Neusner Brown University J. Barre Toelken Hebrew, Biblical StudiesFelix Utah State University Folklore, Native American Felix J. Oinas Indiana University Leo Treitler Finnish, Russian SUNY/Stony Brook Music Isidore Okpewho University of Ibadan Ruth Webber African, Ancient Greek University of Chicago (Emerita) Walter J. Ong Spanish, comparative St. Louis University (Emeritus) Hermeneutics of orality and D.K. Wilgus literacy Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles (Emeritus) Jeff Opland Folk Ballad Vassar College African, Old English Michael Zwettler Ohio State University Svetozar Petrović Arabic University of Novi Sad Serbo-Croatian, Critical theory This issue of Oral Tradition, Volume 3, Numbers i-ii (1988), is dedicated to MILTON D. GLICK in acknowledgment of his contribution to the field of studies in oral tradition. Contents Editor’s Column.......................................................................................... 9 Mark W. Edwards Homer and Oral Tradition: The Formula, Part II ..........................................................................11 Brynley F. Roberts Oral Tradition and Welsh Literature: A Description and Survey ..................................................................61 O. M. Davidson A Formulaic Analysis of Samples Taken from the Shâhnâma of Firdowsi ..............................................88 Victor H. Mair The Buddhist Tradition of Prosimetric Oral Narrative in Chinese Literature ..............................................106 Richard M. Swiderski Oral Text: A South Indian Instance.................................................. 122 Alexandra Hennessey Olsen Oral-Formulaic Research In Old English Studies: II ................................................................138 Annotated Bibliography .........................................................................191 Symposium (David Henige).................................................................... 229 Reviews ...................................................................................................239 About the Authors ...................................................................................247 Meetings and Professional Notes ...........................................................249 Editor’s Column With the present double issue (volume 3, numbers i-ii), Oral Tradition returns to the format of a miscellany, that is, of a collection of essays on a wide selection of traditions intended to familiarize specialists with parallel or analogous developments outside of their home areas. The next number (3, iii) will be a special issue, edited by Issa Boullata, on Arabic oral traditions, and will include twelve essays by eminent scholars from the Near East, Europe, and the United States. In the fourth year of its existence, OT will feature essays on Italian lullabies, African praise poetry, the musical background of Romanian oral narrative, Central Asian epic, and numerous other subjects; part of one number will also be devoted to translations of core writings by Marcel Jousse, V. V. Radlov, and Matija Murko, all scholars who were important infl uences on Milman Parry and the evolution of the oral theory. Within these pages the reader will fi nd the second and concluding installments of two state-of-the-art, or survey, essays: Mark Edwards on ancient Greek and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen on Old English (see, respectively, OT 1, ii:171-230 and 1, iii: 548-606 for the initial sections). Similarly, Brynley Roberts, Librarian at Aberystwyth, offers a thorough account of oral traditional studies in Welsh. In addition to these three surveys, the present issue offers three analytical essays. Olga Davidson probes the formulaic structure of the Persian Shâhnâma of Ferdowsi, Richard Swiderski considers the interdependency of orality and literacy in a south Indian tradition, and Victor Mair looks at the impact of the Buddhist storytelling tradition on the development of written vernacular literature in Chinese. The annotated bibliography of research and scholarship, which follows the six essays, now extends through 1985. It has profi ted from the readership’s suggestions and contributions, but we continue to ask for your assistance in making this research tool as useful as possible. Please send OT two copies of all relevant 10 EDITOR’S COLUMN publications for review and annotation, and feel free to suggest other titles we should be including. Our reviews in fact begin with this issue, as does the Symposium