Campbell - Ossian Mythology and "Oral Texts"
Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
I really enjoyed Abram's historical summary of how oral language developed and transitioned into written word. He begins this account with the invention of the Hebrew alphabet, or "aleph-beth," which later served as a model for Greek linguistic advancement. However, as any geography lesson will tell you, the Greek nation was geographically broken and thus the cultural climate was highly sectarian (i.e. nation-states), so the concept of written language took awhile for people to accept. Additionally, the mystification of oral chants and stories could not be directly translated into written word, and many Greeks were rather disenchanted by this loss of oral magic. As Abram explains, "the sung stories, along with the numerous ceremonies to which they were linked, were in a sense the living encyclopedias of the culture - carrying and preserving the collected knowledge and established customs of the community - and they themselves were preserved through constant repetition and ritual reenactment" (p. 104).
The eventual integration of written language among the Greek population spurred when popular oral mythologies were translated as text as a way to solidify the themes, values, and beliefs of these peoples. Examples of these texts are epitomized by Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey, which integrate the cultural mores of ancient Greek life into a multi-faceted two-part epic. While these Greek literary feats are the most well-known instances of rhapsodic oral translation, they are by no means the only ones. Across the continent in the modern-day United Kingdom, tales of brutish warriors and romanticized hillside scenery spread extensively throughout the traditional clan-dom of ancient Scotland. During the Age of Enlightenment, circa the late 1760s, James Macpherson published the works of Ossian, a prolific laureate whose poems captured the sentiments of archaic Scotland amidst barbaric clan rivalries with an ethereal backdrop. Focused on the sensory experience of oral storytelling, Ossian's works revolved around the adventures of savage warriors in the Highlands; in fact, the nature of these tales awarded Ossian with the title of the "Homer of the North."
I find the parallels between the Greek Homer and the Scottish Ossian very interesting, as they occurred in two very different areas of the world. Primal religion and mythology attempted to answer the questions about and devolve meaning from the lives of our ancestors and, depending on the culture, different interpretations were created. However, the underlying dissemination of such oral chronicles are largely the same, passed down generation to generation and manipulated to fit the circumstances of the time and place. Furthermore, oral storytelling heavily relies on the melodic use of language to transmit meaning to the audience. Abram describes that "the discourse of non-writing cultures is, of necessity, largely comprised of such formulaic and rhythmic phrases, which readily spring to the tongue in appropriate situations" (p. 106). Ancient oral cultures were much more connected to the sensory experience of language which, although attempted, was not fully translated by the authors of such oral texts.
What other oral works represent the ancient cultures of the pre-written world?
I really enjoyed Abram's historical summary of how oral language developed and transitioned into written word. He begins this account with the invention of the Hebrew alphabet, or "aleph-beth," which later served as a model for Greek linguistic advancement. However, as any geography lesson will tell you, the Greek nation was geographically broken and thus the cultural climate was highly sectarian (i.e. nation-states), so the concept of written language took awhile for people to accept. Additionally, the mystification of oral chants and stories could not be directly translated into written word, and many Greeks were rather disenchanted by this loss of oral magic. As Abram explains, "the sung stories, along with the numerous ceremonies to which they were linked, were in a sense the living encyclopedias of the culture - carrying and preserving the collected knowledge and established customs of the community - and they themselves were preserved through constant repetition and ritual reenactment" (p. 104).
The eventual integration of written language among the Greek population spurred when popular oral mythologies were translated as text as a way to solidify the themes, values, and beliefs of these peoples. Examples of these texts are epitomized by Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey, which integrate the cultural mores of ancient Greek life into a multi-faceted two-part epic. While these Greek literary feats are the most well-known instances of rhapsodic oral translation, they are by no means the only ones. Across the continent in the modern-day United Kingdom, tales of brutish warriors and romanticized hillside scenery spread extensively throughout the traditional clan-dom of ancient Scotland. During the Age of Enlightenment, circa the late 1760s, James Macpherson published the works of Ossian, a prolific laureate whose poems captured the sentiments of archaic Scotland amidst barbaric clan rivalries with an ethereal backdrop. Focused on the sensory experience of oral storytelling, Ossian's works revolved around the adventures of savage warriors in the Highlands; in fact, the nature of these tales awarded Ossian with the title of the "Homer of the North."
I find the parallels between the Greek Homer and the Scottish Ossian very interesting, as they occurred in two very different areas of the world. Primal religion and mythology attempted to answer the questions about and devolve meaning from the lives of our ancestors and, depending on the culture, different interpretations were created. However, the underlying dissemination of such oral chronicles are largely the same, passed down generation to generation and manipulated to fit the circumstances of the time and place. Furthermore, oral storytelling heavily relies on the melodic use of language to transmit meaning to the audience. Abram describes that "the discourse of non-writing cultures is, of necessity, largely comprised of such formulaic and rhythmic phrases, which readily spring to the tongue in appropriate situations" (p. 106). Ancient oral cultures were much more connected to the sensory experience of language which, although attempted, was not fully translated by the authors of such oral texts.
What other oral works represent the ancient cultures of the pre-written world?
Comments
Post a Comment