This volume presents essays by leading scholars on the nature of orality as represented by the Homeric poems, and the effect of the oral way of thinking on the subsequent literate and literary development of ancient Greek and Roman culture.
This classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures offering a very clear account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing, print and electronic technology. In the course of his study, Walter J. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. He considers the impact of orality-literacy studies not only on literary criticism and theory but on our very understanding of what it is to be a human being, conscious of self and other. This is a book no reader, writer or speaker should be without.
Written Voices, Spoken Signs is a stimulating introduction to new perspectives on Homer and other traditional epics. Taking advantage of recent research on language and social exchange, the nine innovative essays in this volume--by leading scholars of Homer, oral poetics, and epic--focus on performance and audience reception of oral poetry.
Orality was the backbone of ancient Greek culture throughout its different periods. This volume will serve to deepen the reader’s knowledge of how Greek texts circulated during the Roman Empire. The studies included here approach the subject from both a literary and a sociocultural point of view, illuminating the interconnections between literary and social practices. Topics considered include epigraphy, the rhetoric of transmitting the texts, language and speech, performance, theatre, narrative representation, material culture, and the interaction of different cultures. Since orality is a widespread phenomenon in the Greek-speaking world of the Roman Empire, this book draws the reader’s attention to under-researched texts and inscriptions.
For too long, critical biblical studies have applied modern textual assumptions to ancient oral cultures. Exegeting Orality challenges many of these modern approaches, distilling decades of studies in oral traditions to redirect pastors and scholars toward a more accurate narrative of biblical origins, identity, and meaning. Many works in the area of orality, textuality, performance criticism, and media studies focus on critical issues. Exegeting Orality guides pastors and scholars through a brief introduction to these fields, emphasizing biblical inspiration, interpretation, and proclamation. This work honors the rich oral traditional foundations of the inspired canon, urging a transformative shift in how we interpret the Bible. The stories we believe define us. The Bible is not just a text to be studied but a record of voices from the past who performed our definitive stories. The Bible is a tradition to be reproclaimed and reenacted in the community of faith. Let us not recast these ancient voices into modern epistemological molds without letting them speak from within their own cultural realities. Their voices still call out to us through the abiding Holy Spirit who connects us all to the story of Jesus. May we live out that ancient story today together.
Walter J. Ong’s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact on philosophical, theological, scientific and literary thought. This thirtieth anniversary edition – coinciding with Ong’s centenary year – reproduces his best-known and most influential book in full and brings it up to date with two new exploratory essays by cultural writer and critic John Hartley. Hartley provides: A scene-setting chapter that situates Ong’s work within the historical and disciplinary context of post-war Americanism and the rise of communication and media studies; A closing chapter that follows up Ong’s work on orality and literacy in relation to evolving media forms, with a discussion of recent criticisms of Ong’s approach, and an assessment of his concept of the ‘evolution of consciousness’; Extensive references to recent scholarship on orality, literacy and the study of knowledge technologies, tracing changes in how we know what we know. These illuminating essays contextualize Ong within recent intellectual history, and display his work’s continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature and the media, as well as that of psychology, education and sociological thought.
In Orality and Literacy in the Demotic Tales, Jacqueline E. Jay extrapolates from the surviving ancient Egyptian written record hints of the oral tradition that must have run alongside it. The monograph’s main focus is the intersection of orality and literacy in the extremely rich corpus of Demotic narrative literature surviving from the Greco-Roman Period. The many texts discussed include the tales of the Inaros and Setna Cycles, the Myth of the Sun’s Eye, and the Dream of Nectanebo. Jacqueline Jay examines these Demotic tales not only in conjunction with earlier Egyptian literature, but also with the worldwide tradition of orally composed and performed discourse.
Tsagalis argues that just as the discarded text of a palimpsest still carries traces of its previous writing, so the Homeric tradition unfolds its awareness of alternate versions as it reveals signs of their erasure.
“The reading of STRESS and ORALITY written by F. HARTMANN and G. CUCCHI led me to believe that we should consider the problem of certain migraines, neck pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue from a radically different angle than the historically traditional approach.” Pr Roger Guillemin (Nobel Laureate in Medicine) Are oral disorders only an issue for dentists? The answer is no. If your patients complain of pain and/or discomfort, if some are diagnosed as suffering from migraines, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, and if classical therapies have remained ineffective, this book could help in your daily practice. When it comes to the complex pathology called Temporo-Mandibular Disorders (TMD) most specialists favour a multidisciplinary approach and treatment of socio-psycho-emotional factors as well as dental, lingual or postural disorders. Yet little is known - from a clinical point of view - about a tricky oral spastic habit called severe teeth clenching. In view of the lack of clinical findings from classical investigations on the subject, it could be considered as the “hidden part of an oral parafunctional iceberg”. Neuroscience has been able to shed some light on the multiple connections between trigeminal and non-trigeminal nervous centres, which confirms the significant involvement of the stomatognathic system and trigeminal nerves (V) in both oral as well as non-oral major functions such as eating, breathing, speaking, hearing, and standing ... and also confirms the extensive participation of the paired Vs in the human adaptation process. Too many physicians are still reluctant to admit the pathological responsibilities of the Vs. Therefore their role remains largely underestimated by clinicians. Stress conditions in introverted people cause a parafunctional habit (i.e. severe clenching), which in turn produces trigeminal overstimulation and nociception. Through a process of sensitization this can perturb some non-trigeminal nervous areas, such as the vestibular nuclei and cerebellum (involved in equilibrium). Would you then be willing to accept the possibility that a stressed and introverted patient who clenches hard, durably or frequently may end up suffering from dizziness? If not, this book is not for you. But if you accept the scientific data and clinical facts this book will offer a concrete therapeutic protocol: the Relaxing and Moderating Treatment (RMT), which can greatly help you to familiarize yourself with and neutralize this little known deleterious spastic oral parafunction and its many disconcerting pain-causing and dysfunctional clinical effects. Prepare to be amazed by the results, just as we were!
This volume examines orality and literacy in the ancient Greek and Roman world through a range of perspectives and in various genres. Four essays on the Homeric epics present recent research into performative aspects of language, cognitive theory and oral composition, a re-evaluation of Parry's oral-formulaic theory, and a new perspective on the poem's transmission. These are complemented by studies of the oral nature of Greek proverbial expressions, and of poetic authority within a fluid oral tradition. Two essays consider the significance of the written word in a predominantly oral culture, in relation to star calendars and to Panathenaic inscriptions. Finally, two chapters consider the ongoing influence of oral tradition in the ancient novel and in Roman declamation. These essays illustrate the importance of considering ancient texts in the context of fluctuating oral and literate influences.