What is oral literature?
Oral literature is a term generally applied to spoken
literary traditions such as folk tales, musical theater, proverbs, riddles,
life histories, plays, proverbs, epic poems and historical recitations. Unlike written literary genres,
oral literature is conveyed or passed down to future generations by word of
mouth, typically through memorization and recitation. It is considered a verbal
art form.
Legends
and myths are prime examples of oral literature, crossing the line between fact
and fiction, yet strengthened by constant re-telling. They become part of a
heritage that identifies a culture or group of people. Chants and rituals are
also forms of oral literature because of the provocative powers of the spoken word,
especially when coupled with historical facts.
Written
literature and oral literature share similar characteristics, including the
need to use heightened language and literary techniques such as alliteration,
flashbacks, foreshadowing, narrative hooks and plot twists. The two styles
differ, however, in that oral literature requires one or more performers who
hold responsibility for conveying the emotion, intent, action, storyline and
conclusion of the entire piece. Epiphanies, plot twists and motives are all
revealed by the storyteller. Examples of prominent oral literature include
African American tales, Australian aboriginal mythology and Homeric poems.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ORAL LITEATURE
Oral literature or folk literature corresponds in the sphere of the
spoken (oral) word to literature as literature operates in the
domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally
more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one
might expect literature to do. The Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu introduced the term orature
in an attempt to avoid an oxymoron, but oral literature
remains more common both in academic and popular writing.
Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written
literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions—such as folk epics, folklore, proverbs and folksong—that effectively constitute an
oral literature. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such
as folklorists and paremiographers, the result is still often
referred to as "oral literature".
Literate societies may continue an oral tradition -
particularly within the family (for example bedtime stories) or informal social
structures. The telling of urban legends may be considered an example
of oral literature, as can jokes and also oral poetry including slam poetry which has been a televised
feature on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry; performance poetry is a genre of poetry
that consciously shuns the written form
History of the oral literature concept
Lore is seen in societies with vigorous oral conveyance
practices to be a general term inclusive of both oral literature and any
written literature, including sophisticated writings, as well, potentially, as
visual and performance arts which may interact with
these forms, extend their expression, or offer additional expressive media.
Thus even where no phrase in local language which exactly translates "oral
literature" is used, what constitutes "oral literature" as
understood today is already understood to be part or all of the lore media with
which a society conducts profound and common cultural affairs among its
members, orally. In this sense, oral lore is an ancient practice and concept
natural to the earliest storied communications and transmissions of bodies of
knowledge and culture in verbal form near the dawn of language-based human
societies, and 'oral literature' thus understood was putatively recognized in
times prior to recordings of history in non-oral media including painting and
writing.
Oral literature as a concept, after CE 19th century
antecedents, was more widely circulated by Hector Munro Chadwick and Nora Kershaw Chadwick in their comparative
work on the "growth of literature" (1932–40). In 1960, Albert B. Lord published The Singer of Tales (1960), which
influentially exmamined fluidity in both ancient and later texts and
"oral-formulaic" principles being used during composition-in-performance,
particularly by contemporary Eastern European bards relating long traditional
narratives.
From the 1970s, the term "Oral literature" appears
in the work of both literary scholars and anthropologists: Finnegan (1970,
1977), Görög-Karady (1982), Bauman (1986) and in the articles of the journal Cahiers de Littérature Orale.
AFRICAN ORAL
LITERATURE
African literature refers to literature of and from Africa. While the European perception of
literature generally refers to written letters, the African concept includes oral literature (or "orature", in
the term coined by Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu)
As
George Joseph notes in his chapter on African literature in Understanding
Contemporary Africa, whereas European views of literature often stressed a
separation of art and content, African awareness is inclusive:
"Literature" can also
imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone. ...traditionally,
Africans do not radically separate art from teaching. Rather than write or sing
for beauty in itself, African writers, taking their cue from oral literature,
use beauty to help communicate important truths and information to society.
Indeed, an object is considered beautiful because of the truths it reveals and
the communities it helps to build.
