Oral Tradition

_____________________________________________________________ Volume 1 October 1986 Number 3 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Lee Edgar Tyler Juris Dilevko Patrick Gonder Nancy Hadfield 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 Editor’s Column ........................................................................................................465 Albert B. Lord Perspectives on Recent Work on the Oral Traditional Formula ................................................................467 Elizabeth and Michael Jeffreys The Oral Background of Byzantine Popular Poetry ...................................504 Alexandra Hennessey Olsen Oral-Formulaic Research in Old English Studies: I................................... 548 Eliza Miruna Ghil A Romanian Singer of Tales: Vasile Tetin ...................................................607 Ward Parks The Oral-Formulaic Theory in Middle English Studies .............................636 Bruce A. Rosenberg The Message of the American Folk Sermon................................................ 695 Joseph J. Duggan Social Functions of the Medieval Epic in the Romance Literatures .........................................................................728 Bibliography .............................................................................................................767 About the Authors....................................................................................................... 809 Meetings and Professional Notes ...............................................................................811 Index Editor’s Column With this issue Oral Tradition comes to the end of its fi rst year of existence, and it thus seems an appropriate time to thank all those concerned with producing the fi rst volume: the authors, reviewers, editorial board, editorial assistants, and not least the readership. The staff at Slavica Publishers, especially Erica Townsend and Tonya Spears, deserve special gratitude for their heroic efforts. Our next year will see the publication of two special issues as part of a policy that calls for at least one such special collection annually. The January number will be a Festschrift for Walter J. Ong, and will consist of papers in a number of the areas he has infl uenced; authors include Albert Lord, Eric Havelock, Robert Kellogg, Werner Kelber, and others, with a closing essay by Father Ong himself. The May issue, under the editorship of Ruth H. Webber, will be devoted to Hispanic balladry and will feature articles by Diego Catalán, Antonio Sánchez Romeralo, and Samuel G. Armistead and Joseph H. Silverman, to name only a few. The third number for 1987 will return to the usual format of a potpourri, containing essays on Persian and South Indian oral traditions, as well as the second parts of the Old English and Homeric Greek surveys and the annotated bibliography. Once again we encourage all readers to send us their publications for inclusion in the bibliography. Many people have been extremely helpful in this regard, and we hope that all who work in the consortium of fi elds that bear on “oral tradition” will form the habit of contributing one copy of their books or monographs and two copies of their articles to this worthy cause. The annual bibliography, the fi rst edition of which may be found later on in this issue of Oral Tradition, is only as thorough and as useful as contributors make it. In connection with the recently established Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at Missouri, we are happy to announce an upcoming international symposium commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, the great Serbian ethnographer, linguist, and collector of oral traditional narrative. To celebrate this occasion, six Yugoslav colleagues will be coming to Columbia to join six Americans for a fi ve-day symposium on the topic “Vuk Karadžić: Oral and Literary Art.” Please send any inquiries to John Foley at the usual editorial address. The present issue of Oral Tradition begins with Albert Lord’s comparative survey of recent developments in oral literature studies; a sequel to his 1974 “Perspectives” essay, it also treats the important questions of formulaic density and the “transitional text.” Other surveys include the fi rst section of a two-part history

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