_____________________________________________________________ Volume 7 October 1992 Number 2 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Dave Henderson Elizabeth P. McNulty Catherine S. Quick 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) 1992 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 appears twice per year, in March and October. Annual subscription charges are $18 for individuals and $35 for libraries and other institutions. All manuscripts, books for review, items for the bibliography updates, and editorial correspondence, as well as subscriptions and related inquiries should be addressed to the editor, John Miles Foley, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, 301 Read Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Printed in the United States of America. EDITORIAL BOARD Patricia Arant Joseph J. Duggan Brown University Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Russian French, Spanish, comparative Samuel Armistead Alan Dundes University of California/Davis Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Hispanic, comparative Folklore Ilhan Bașgöz Mark W. Edwards Indiana University Stanford University Turkish Ancient Greek Richard Bauman Ruth Finnegan Indiana University Open University Folklore African, South Pacific Franz H. Bäuml Donald K. Fry Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Poynter Institute Middle High German Old English Roderick Beaton Joseph Harris King’s College, London Harvard University Modern Greek Old Norse Dan Ben-Amos Melissa Heckler University of Pennsylvania New York Storytelling Center Folklore Storytelling Daniel Biebuyck Dell Hymes University of Delaware University of Virginia African Native American, Linguistics Issa J. Boullata Elizabeth Jeffreys McGill University University of Sydney Arabic Byzantine Greek David E. Bynum Michael Jeffreys Cleveland State University University of Sydney East European, comparative Byzantine Greek Robert P. Creed Minna Skafte Jensen Univ. of Mass./Amherst University of Copenhagen Old English, comparative Ancient Greek, Latin Robert Culley Werner Kelber McGill University Rice University Biblical Studies Biblical Studies EDITORIAL BOARD Robert Kellogg Felix J. Oinas University of Virginia Indiana University Old Germanic, comparative Finnish, Russian Victor Mair Isidore Okpewho University of Pennsylvania University of Ibadan Chinese African, Ancient Greek John S. Miletich Walter J. Ong Las Vegas, Nevada St. Louis University (Emeritus) Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Hermeneutics of orality and comparative literacy D. Gary Miller Jeff Opland University of Florida Vassar College Linguistics, Ancient Greek African, Old English Nada Milošević-Djordjević Svetozar Petrović University of Belgrade University of Novi Sad Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian, Critical theory Stephen Mitchell Burton Raffel Harvard University Univ. of Southwestern Scandinavian Louisiana Translation Michael Nagler Alain Renoir Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, (Emeritus) comparative Old Germanic, Old French, comparative Gregory Nagy Bruce A. Rosenberg Harvard University Brown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Folk narrative, Medieval comparative literature Joseph Falaky Nagy Joel Sherzer Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles University of Texas/Austin Old Irish Native American, Anthropology Jacob Neusner Dennis Tedlock Brown University SUNY/Buffalo Hebrew, Biblical StudiesFelix Native American EDITORIAL BOARD Jeff Todd Titon Ronald J. Turner Brown University Univ. of Missouri/Columbia Music Storytelling J. Barre Toelken Ruth Webber Utah State University University of Chicago Folklore, Native American (Emerita) Spanish, comparative Leo Treitler Michael Zwettler SUNY/Stony Brook Ohio State University Music Arabic Contents Editor’s Column...................................................................................... 195 Emmanuel Obiechina Narrative Proverbs in the African Novel .....................................197 Sioned Davies Storytelling in Medieval Wales .....................................................231 Marilynn Desmond Beowulf: The Monsters and the Tradition ..................................258 Mark W. Edwards Homer and Oral Tradition: The Type-Scene................................ 284 Slavic Oral Traditions ............................................................................331 Mary P. Coote On the Composition of Women’s Songs.............................. 332 Svetozar Koljević Repetition as Invention in the Songs of Vuk Karadžić .......349 Alla Astakhova “Sound Shaping” of East Slavic Zagovory .......................365 Symposium (Japanese Oral Traditions, Hiroyuki Araki) ........................373 About the Authors ...................................................................................383 Index to Volume 7 ...................................................................................385 Editor’s Column Under its new format of a biannual, but with at least the same number of total pages per annual volume as in past years, Oral Tradition closes 1992 with this issue. The shift in format is the result of two principal concerns, the one economic and the other academic. Happily, this modification will not at all affect the number and quality of the articles and other features we will continue to bring to our readership, since the overall capacity of the journal will not change. We are committed to an annual volume of 380-400 pages, a figure which has actually translated to more and more space as the methods of typesetting have evolved. Because Oral Tradition serves a very diverse readership, we have been contemplating a way of increasing the heterogeneity of the contents of each issue in an effort to keep readers informed of activity in as many different areas as possible. At the same time, we hoped to be able to feature “clusters” of from three to five essays on a particular subject, approach, or area to complement the variety inherent in a miscellany. Longer single issues, on the order of 180-200 pages, as opposed to our standard triquarterly length of 120-130 pages, promote both greater heterogeneity in coverage and increased opportunity for the focus provided by clusters (without sacrificing variety). We trust this new format will serve the interdisciplinary field well. The present issue, like its immediate predecessor, illustrates the flexibility made possible by the new format. Among the eight articles included are Emmanuel Obiechina’s lead essay on the role of what he calls “narrative proverbs”—imbedded stories from oral tradition—in the African novel. Professor Obiechina goes far beyond mere identification or structural analysis to an inquiry into the dynamics of employing oral traditional material, with its attendant resonances, in a highly literate genre. Next Sioned Davies offers a meticulous and synthetic view of storytelling in medieval Wales; among her concerns are traditional “themes” that recur in numerous sources and inform the narrative in particular ways. Traditional structures and their implications are also emphasized in Marilynn Desmond’s essay on “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Tradition,” in which she traces significant patterns in the Old English poem and weighs their 196 EDITOR’S COLUMN importance to a “reading” of this oral-derived traditional text. We are fortunate indeed to be able to include the third part of Mark Edwards’ magisterial survey of scholarship on Homer and oral tradition in this number. While the first two installments (OT, 1 [1986]: 767-808 and 3 [1988]: 191-228) treated research associated with the formula, this section covers the type- scene or theme. Following the