Oral Epic

<p>This book focuses on the performance of oral epics and explores the significance of performance features for the interpretation of epic poetry.</p><p>The leading question of the book is how the socio-cultural context of performance and the various performance elements contribute to the meaning of oral epics. This is a question which not only concerns epics collected from living oral tradition, but which is also of importance for the understanding of the epics of antiquity and the Middle Ages which originated and flourished in an oral milieu.</p><p>The book is based on fieldwork in the still vibrant oral traditions of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Siberia. The discussion combines fieldwork with theory; it is not limited to Turkic epics but branches out into other oral traditions.</p> <p>Introduction</p><p>Part I: Settings</p><p>1 How to Identify an Oral Epic</p><p>Oral: shades and grades</p><p>The challenge of native classification</p><p>An African interlude</p><p>The Uzbek <i>dastan</i></p><p>2 The Singer</p><p>Epic singers: types and terms</p><p>How to become an epic singer</p><p>The chain of transmission</p><p>Creativity and innovation</p><p>3 Introducing Performance</p><p>The ethnography of communication</p><p>Textualization</p><p>Part II: Performance</p><p>4 Voice</p><p>Speaking</p><p>Singing</p><p>Shamanic voices</p><p>5 Gesture</p><p>Conventional gestures: the Karakalpak <i>jïraw</i> </p><p>Stylized gestures: the Kyrgyz <i>manaschï</i> </p><p>Gesture and inspiration</p><p>Gesture, miming, stage props</p><p>6 Oral Epics as Songs</p><p>Song as vehicle, song as music</p><p>‘Riding the song’: the singing of the Kyrgyz epic <i>Manas</i></p><p>Music and metre: some examples </p><p>7 Voice and Instrument</p><p><i>Gusle</i>,<i> qobïz</i>, horse-head fiddle</p><p>Lute, <i>dutar</i>, <i>dombira</i></p><p>The interplay of song and instrument</p><p>Part III: Interpretation</p><p>8 Words, Music, Meaning</p><p>Meaning and expression</p><p>What’s in a name?</p><p>Imitation</p><p>Leitmotifs in Siberian oral epics</p><p>Expression and convention</p><p>9 The Singer and the Tale</p><p>Point of View</p><p>Mythological epics, sacred time</p><p>First-person narration, shamanic traces</p><p>The narrator’s presence in the narrative</p><p>10 Performance and Interpretation</p><p>Visualization and imaging</p><p>Aria and recitative</p><p>From context to text</p><p>Appendices</p><p>A Notes on Oral Epic Traditions</p><p>B Audio/Video Examples</p><p>C Discography</p>