Discussion of Gwenda's work in "Friday's Father." Noted that her age and partial facial paralysis was not an obstacle to belief.
Discussion of storytelling origins.
Tell>Tally. The sense of 'to make an accounting." Hence a Bank Teller. Early writing shows lists and records. From this tallying comes also writing that recounts events: stories.
Tell>Discern. The sense of 'tell' as 'to find out." As in a doctor visit: we will check symptoms to tell what's wrong. Or a poker game in which we look for the other players' "tell" that will reveal their strategy.
Discussion of memory in preliterate culture. Distinction from memorization? Referenced Millman Parry's work with Serbo-Croatian storytellers in his research on Homeric formulae. Pellowski cites Parry and his protege, Lord, in a number of places.
More on Millman Parry.
Quick exercise: Drew stood at the door and told us what he saw. In the 3 times that he recounted his brief tale, we noticed that his language developed considerably, employing greater detail, images, and suppositions as to the nature of the scene. Could it be that repeated telling leads us into the "verbal conceits" (word tricks) that form poetic, 'elevated', speech? Could this give a hint to the origin of poetic language and storytelling forms?
Assignments: Read Chapters 1, 9, & 10 of World of Storytelling
Also: gloss "rehearse"
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