Orality, Literacy and Performance in the Ancient World (Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World, vol. 9)

287 Pages·2011·2.94 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Minchin

Orality, Literacy and Performance
in the Ancient World
Mnemosyne
Supplements
Monographs on Greek and
Latin Language and Literature
Editedby
G.J. Boter
A. Chaniotis
K. Coleman
I.J.F. de Jong
T. Reinhardt
VOLUME335
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.nl/mns
Orality, Literacy
and Performance in
the Ancient World
Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World, vol. 9
Editedby
Elizabeth Minchin
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2012
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
InternationalConferenceonOralityandLiteracyintheAncientWorld(9th:2010:Canberra,
Australia)
Orality,literacyandperformanceintheancientworld/editedbyElizabethMinchin.
p.cm.–(Mnemosynesupplements.MonographsonGreekandLatinlanguageand
literature,ISSN0169-8958;335)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-21774-4(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Oralcommunication–Greece–Congresses.2.Writtencommunication–Greece–
Congresses.3.Transmissionoftexts–Greece–Congresses. I.Minchin,Elizabeth.II.Title.
P92.G75I5352011
880.9'001–dc23
2011036943
ISSN0169-8958
ISBN9789004217744(hardback)
ISBN9789004217751(e-book)
Copyright2012byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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CONTENTS
Preface ................................................................. vii
NotesonContributors................................................. ix
Introduction ........................................................... xi
ElizabethMinchin
PARTI
POETRYINPERFORMANCE
TheAudienceExpects:PenelopeandOdysseus ...................... 3
AdrianKelly
ThePresentationofSonginHomer’sOdyssey ........................ 25
DeborahBeck
ComparativePerspectivesontheCompositionoftheHomeric
Simile................................................................ 55
JonathanReady
ComposingLines,PerformingActs:Clauses,DiscourseActs,and
MelodicUnitsinaSouthSlavicEpicSong......................... 89
AnnaBonifaziandDavidF.Elmer
WorksandDaysAsPerformance...................................... 111
RuthScodel
PARTII
LITERACYANDORALITY
EmpoweringtheSacred:TheFunctionoftheSanskritTextina
ContemporaryExpositionoftheBha¯gavatapura¯n.a ............... 129
McComasTaylor
PromptsforParticipationinEarlyPhilosophicalTexts .............. 151
JamesHendersonCollinsII
PerforminganAcademicTalk:ProclusonHesiod’sWorksandDays 183
PatriziaMarzillo
vi contents
TheCriticism—andthePractice—ofLiteracyintheAncient
PhilosophicalTradition............................................. 201
MathildeCambron-Goulet
ReadingBooks,TalkingCulture:ThePerformanceofPaideiain
ImperialGreekLiterature........................................... 227
JeroenLauwers
EumolpusPoetaatWork:RehearsedSpontaneityintheSatyricon .. 245
NiallW.Slater
Index ................................................................... 265
PREFACE
The ninth conference in the international Orality and Literacy series
(‘OralityandLiteracyintheAncientGreekandRomanWorld:Compo-
sitionandPerformance’)tookplaceattheAustralianNationalUniversity
inCanberrainJune–July.Somescholarsattendingthisninthbien-
nialconferencehadattendedallprecedingmeetingsintheseries;several
participants hadattendedanumberoftheearliergatherings;forothers
thiswastheirfirstexperienceoftheOrality ‘network’. Thereisadegree
ofwarmthandgoodwillthatdistinguishesthisseriesfrommanyothers,
perhapsbecausetheconferenceparticipants,drawntogetherfromdiffer-
entfieldsbytheirmutual interestinoraltheory,findtheirowninterest
sharpenedonlearninghowtheconceptsoforalitymaybeextendedand
appliedacrosstheclassicalworld(and,ofcourse,beyond).
The conference from which these papers emerged was supported
by grants from the Australian Academy of the Humanities, from the
School of Cultural Inquiry at the Australian National University, and
fromtheAustralasian Society for ClassicalStudies, whosecontribution
tocostsenabledAustralian postgraduatestudentstoparticipate fully in
conferenceactivities.Igratefullyacknowledgethesupportofthesethree
bodies.Ithankmythreeassistantsduringtheconferenceperiod—Abel
Chen, Sarah Hendriks, and Fiona Sweet Formiatti—for their support,
and for their care and concern for our guests. And on behalf of all
participantsIexpressmygratitudetoDrLukeTaylor,DeputyPrincipalof
theAustralianInstituteofAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderStudies,
whogave upan afternoontotalktousaboutAboriginal contemporary
art and oral culture as representedin the Kuninjku bark painting from
WesternArnhemLand.
Toputtogetherthisvolume,theoutcomeoftheconference,hasbeen
a delight. Each of the papers included here offers us new insights into
oralcompositionandoralperformanceintheancientworld,bothbefore
theadvent ofliteracyandafter.Ithankallcontributorsfortheirwilling
cooperation in meeting deadlines; and I thank the readers from across
theworld,whorespondedsograciouslytomyrequeststoreadandreport
onthemanuscriptsubmissions.IammorethanalittlegratefultoAnne
Mackay,anOralityandLiteracyeditortwice-over,forhersageadviceat
variousstagesofthisproject.Finally,IthanktheeditoratBrill,Irenevan
viii preface
RossumandherassistantsCarolinevanErpandLauradelaRiefortheir
assistancewithmyqueriesatmanypointsintheproposalandpublication
process.
As far as style and formatting is concerned, I have followed certain
ratherrelaxedprecedentsofearliervolumesinthisseries.Authorshave
been given the freedom to use English or American spellings and Hel-
lenized or Latinized spellings of ancient Greek names. Abbreviations,
however, follow L’Année philologiquefor journals and the Oxford Clas-
sicalDictionary(rded.)forancientauthorsandtheirworks,andother
commonreferences.
ElizabethMinchin
ClassicsandAncientHistory
TheAustralianNationalUniversity
June
NOTESONCONTRIBUTORS
Deborah Beck, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Texas at
Austin,Austin,TX,USA.
Anna Bonifazi, Head of an Emmy-Noether independent research
group,DepartmentofClassicalPhilology,Heidelberg,Germany.
MathildeCambron-Goulet,doctoralstudent,UniversitédeMontréal,
Montréal,Québec,Canada.
JamesHendersonCollinsII,AssistantProfessorofClassics,University
ofSouthernCalifornia,LosAngeles,CA,USA.
DavidF.Elmer,AssistantProfessor,DepartmentoftheClassics,Harvard
University,Cambridge,MA,USA.
Adrian Kelly, Fellow and Tutor in Ancient Greek Literature, Balliol
College,UniversityofOxford.
JeroenLauwers,doctoralstudentinClassics,supportedbytheResearch
FoundationFlanders,CatholicUniversityofLeuven(Belgium).
Patrizia Marzillo, Assistant Professor of Greek Philology, Ludwig-
Maximilians-University, Munich,Germany.
Jonathan Ready, AssistantProfessor of Classical Studies, Indiana Uni-
versity,Bloomington,IN,USA.
RuthScodel,D.R.ShackletonBaileyCollegiate ProfessorofGreekand
Latin,TheUniversityofMichigan,AnnArbor,MI,USA.
Niall W. Slater, Samuel Candler Dobbs ProfessorofLatin and Greek,
EmoryUniversity,Atlanta,GA,USA.
McComasTaylor, Head,SouthAsiaProgram,College ofAsiaandthe
Pacific,AustralianNationalUniversity,CanberraACTAustralia.