The Powers of Genre: Interpreting Haya Oral Literature / Edition 1

by Peter Seitel

Overview

The Powers of Genre describes a method for interpreting oral literature that depends upon and facilitates dialogue between insiders and outsiders to a tradition. Seitel illustrates this method with lively examples from Haya proverbs, folktales, and heroic verse. He then focuses on a single epic ballad to demonstrate, among other things, why stanzas need not rhyme, and how significance needs time in oral poetry and narrative. Making a controversial claim that an heroic age, similar to that of Ancient Greece, existed in Sub-Saharan Africa, this work will intrigue anyone who works in oral literature and narrative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195117004
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1999
Series:	Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics , #22
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	8.84(w) x 6.82(h) x 0.86(d)
Lexile:	1280L (what's this?)

About the Author

Smithsonian Institution

Table of Contents

1	Introduction	3
Part I	Style, Theme, and Composition in Genre
2	The Logic of Proverbs	35
3	Emergent Complexities and Complex Emergencies in Folktales	49
4	Heroic Society in Interlacustrine Africa	83
Part II	A Genre-Powered Reading of Kachwenyanja
5	Stanzas Need No Rhyme	177
6	Significance Needs Time	196
7	Summary and Conclusion	222
	Appendix A	227
	Appendix B	233
	References	237
	Index	241

Editorial Reviews

"Seitel's argument proceeds elegantly from the simplicity to complexity. After setting out his aims and defining his terms, and introducing the Haya and their oral literature, he offers successive analyses of proverbs, folktales, and heroic ballads, amplifying and extending his techniques on the way."—Journal of American Folklore

From the Publisher