Chapter 4. The Theme Formulas and groups of formulas, both large and small, serve only one purpose. They provide a means for telling a story in song and verse. The tale’s the thing. Anyone who reads through a collection of oral epic from any country is soon aware that the same basic incidents and descriptions are met with time and again. This is true in spite… Read more
Chapter 5. Songs and the Song As long as one thought of the oral poet as a singer who carried in his head a song in more or less the exact form in which he had learned it from another singer, as long as one used for investigation ballads and comparatively short epics, the question of what an oral song is could not arise. It was, we… Read more
Chapter 6. Writing and Oral Tradition The art of narrative song was perfected, and I use the word advisedly, long before the advent of writing. It had no need of stylus or brush to become a complete artistic and literary medium. Even its geniuses were not straining their bonds, longing to be freed from its captivity, eager for the liberation by writing. When writing was introduced, epic… Read more
Chapter 7. Homer The practice of oral narrative poetry makes a certain form necessary; the way in which oral epic songs are composed and transmitted leaves its unmistakable mark on the songs. That mark is apparent in the formulas and in the themes. It is visible in the structure of the songs themselves. In the living laboratory of Yugoslav epic the elements have emerged… Read more
Chapter 8. The Odyssey In reading the Odyssey or the Iliad we are at a distinct disadvantage because we are reading isolated texts in a tradition. The comparison with other traditions shows us very clearly that songs are not isolated entities, but that they must be understood in terms of other songs that are current. Had we an adequate collection of ancient Greek epic songs, we could… Read more
Chapter 9. The Iliad The essential pattern of the Iliad is the same as that of the Odyssey; they are both the story of an absence that causes havoc to the beloved of the absentee and of his return to set matters aright. [1] Both tales involve the loss of someone near and dear to the hero (Patroclus and Odysseus’ companions); both… Read more
Chapter 10. Some Notes on Medieval Epic [1] It is perfectly understandable that the oral theory, as it is called, is known best to Classicists, who have been trying to look at Homer from its point of view since the days of Milman Parry. Thanks to Professor Francis P. Magoun, Jr., and to his students, the theory has also attracted the attention… Read more
Appendix I. Comparison of Texts of “Bećiragić Meho” by Two Different Singers Parry 12468 and 12471 Invocation. Mumin Vlahovljak 1–16, Avdo Međedović 1–30 1. The scene of the assembly: description of assembly Mumin (17–36) Thirty men of the Border were drinking wine at the gate of Udbina. Mustajbey of the Lika was at their head with seven standard-bearers; Mujo of Kladuša was at… Read more
Appendix II. Comparison of Four Versions of “Marko and Nina” by Petar Vidić Parry 6 Parry 804 Parry 805 Parry 846 Marko is drinking wine with his mother, his wife, and his sister (1-4). Marko arises early in his stone tower and drinks raki. With him are his mother, his wife, and his sister… Read more
Appendix III. Return Songs A. Parry 6818, by Alibeg Begović in Bijelo Polje B. Parry 12417, by Šaćir Dupljak in Bijelo Polje C. Parry 6229, by Avdo Avdić in Gacko D. Parry 6580, by Murat Čustović in Gacko E. Parry 1905, by Franje Vuković in Bihać F. Parry 1939, by Murat Žunić in Bihać a. Parry 6812, by Husein Dupljak in… Read more
