Oral Culture Past and Present

Rap and Homer? It may seem incongruous to link the verbal gymnastics of black America and the epic poetry of ancient Greece. yet there is nothing frivolous in pairing the two, for both represent skilled exponents of richly developed oral cultures. The techniques of their craft, their relations with their audience and their place within the community are common bonds of more significance than the distances which separate them. This book, the collaboration of a classicist and a sociolinguist, ranges across six continents and 3000 years, taking in the oral world of Homer, the orators of Madagascar and Samoa, the story-tellers of Africa and the Caribbean and the rappers of America and Britain today. In their panoramic account, the authors explore particularly the characteristics and techniques of the oral performer and the active role of the audience in the performance. The interchanges of performer and audience include praise and blame, boasts and self-blame, abuse and counter-abuse. The authors look too at the structure and connections of oral performances, marked by repetition and elaborations, proverbs, lists and riddles.
The work is aimed at undergraduates and specialists in sociolinguistics, English folklore, black studies and classics.