The Singer of Tales

Front Cover
Harvard University Press, 2000 - Biography & Autobiography - 307 pages

This 40th anniversary edition of Albert Lord's classic work includes a unique enhancement: a CD containing the original audio recordings of all the passages of heroic songs quoted in the book; a video publication of the kinescopic filming of the most valued of the singers; and selected photographs taken during Milman Parry's collecting trips in the Balkans.

Parry began recording and studying a live tradition of oral narrative poetry in order to find an answer to the age-old Homeric Question: How had the author of the Iliad and Odyssey composed these two monumental epic poems at the very start of Europe's literary tradition? Parry's, and with him Lord's, enduring contribution--set forth in Lord's The Singer of Tales--was to demonstrate the process by which oral poets compose.

Now reissued with a new Introduction and an invaluable audio and visual record, this widely influential book is newly enriched to better serve everyone interested in the art and craft of oral literature.

 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
3
SINGERS PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING
13
THE FORMULA
30
THE THEME
68
SONGS AND THE SONG
99
WRITING AND ORAL TRADITION
124
The Application
139
HOMER
141
THE ODYSSEY
158
THE ILIAD
186
SOME NOTES ON MEDIEVAL EPIC
198
APPENDICES
223
NOTES
277
INDEX
305
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Singer of Tales
Albert Bates Lord,Stephen Arthur Mitchell,Gregory Nagy
Snippet view - 2000
The Singer of Tales
Albert Bates Lord
Snippet view - 1960
The Singer of Tales
Albert Bates Lord
Snippet view - 1960
View all »

Common terms and phrases

Achilles Agamemnon Alija arrival asks assembly Avdo Avdo Međedović Avdo's beginning Beowulf Bihać Bijelo Polje Book capture deceptive story dictated Digenis Akritas disguise dođe enjambement Eumaeus father Folklore formulas give goes Greek gusle Halil hero Heroic Homeric poems horse idea Iliad Janok journey killed learned letter literary literature manuscript Marko Marko Kraljević Meho's Menelaus Milman Parry Moslem mother Mujo Murat Mustajbey narrative Nikola Nina Novi Pazar Odysseus oral composition oral epic oral poet oral poetry oral tradition Osman Parry and Lord Parry Collection Parry's passage Patroclus Penelope performance prison Rade Rade's Radovan recognition rescue rhythmic pattern Salih Šarac says scene singer Singer of Tales singing song South Slavic Stojan Stolac suitors sultan sung syntactic pattern tale tambura tavern Telemachus tells texts thematic theme Theoclymenus tower Turks Udbina verb vizier wedding guests wife word writing written Yugoslav Zadar εἰς καὶ τὴν τὸ τὸν

About the author (2000)

Stephen A. Mitchell received an A.B. in Anthropology and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures from University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures from the University of Minnesota. He is a Professor of Scandinavian and Folklore at Harvard University, and a curator of its Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature. His research and teaching focus on Nordic culture and literature, especially the popular traditions, mythologies, belief systems, and legends of the late medieval and early modern periods. He has written several books including Heroic Sagas and Ballads and Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. Gregory Nagy is Jones Professor of Classical Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, and the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Singer of Tales
Volume 24 of Harvard studies in comparative literature Founded by William Henry Schofield
Volume 24 of Harvard studies in comparative literature, ISSN 0073-0696
AuthorsAlbert Bates Lord, Stephen Arthur Mitchell, Gregory Nagy
EditorsStephen Arthur Mitchell, Stephen Mitchell, Gregory Nagy
Editionillustrated
PublisherHarvard University Press, 2000
ISBN0674002830, 9780674002838
Length307 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures
Literary Criticism / Poetry
Music / Ethnic
Music / Genres & Styles / Folk & Traditional
Music / Recording & Reproduction
  
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