The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to announce that The Singer of Tales by Albert B. Lord is now available online, for free, in an electronic form, on the newly redesigned CHS website. Albert Lord’s book builds on Milman Parry’s work in his search of the oral traditions in the Yugoslavia of 1933–35. Parry began recording and studying a live tradition of oral narrative poetry to further understand how… Read more
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF CHS As one of Albert Lord’s former students, it gives me great pleasure to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth on Sept. 15, 1912. As a pioneering scholar in the study of oral traditions, Lord had a profound impact on our understanding of oral epic traditions, including the tradition represented by the Iliad and Odyssey. His book The Singer of Tales introduced thousands of readers to the richness… Read more
Graeme Bird and a student from Gordon College examine an 1800-year-old Homeric papyrus.Photo Credit: Cyndi McMahon, Gordon College "True improvisation has nothing really to do with “making stuff up on the spot”; rather it is the creative and inspired weaving together of previously rehearsed material…" --Graeme Bird We recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with professor, musician, and CHS author Graeme D. Bird about his work on ancient Homeric papyri, jazz improvisation, and the surprising intersections between the two. Read more
