Written Voices, Spoken Signs: Tradition, Performance, and the Epic Text (Center for Hellenic Studies Colloquia)

316 Pages·1997·0.94 MB·English

by  Egbert J. Bakker

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CEN TER F OR HEL L ENI C S TUDI ES COL L OQUI A
Written Voices, Spoken Signs

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Written Voices, Spoken Signs
Tradition, Performance,
and the Epic Text
Edited by
EGBERT BAKKER & AHUVIA KAHANE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge,Massachusetts • London,England • 1997
Copyright©1997bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Writtenvoices,spokensigns:tradition,performance,andtheepic
text/editedbyEgbertBakkerandAhuviaKahane.
p. cm.—(CenterforHellenicstudiescolloquia)
PapersoriginallypresentedatacolloquiumheldJune22–26,1994
attheCenterforHellenicStudiesinWashington,D.C.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–674–96260–5(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Homer—Criticismandinterpretation—Congresses.
2.Epicpoetry,Greek—Historyandcriticism—Theory,etc.—Congresses.
3.Epicpoetry,Medieval—Historyandcriticism—Theory,etc.—Congresses.
4.Literature,Comparative—Greekandmedieval—Congresses.
5.Literature,Comparative—MedievalandGreek—Congresses.
6.Oralinterpretationofpoetry—Congresses.
7.Writtencommunication—Greece—Congresses.
8.Oral—formulaicanalysis—Congresses.
9.Oraltradition—Greece—Congresses.
10.Oraltradition—Europe—Congresses.
I.Bakker,EgbertJ. II.Kahane,Ahuvia. III.Series.
PA4037.A5W75 1997
883′.01—dc21
96–46776
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F O R E W O R D
The Center for Hellenic Studies, located on a wooded campus in
Washington, D.C., is a privately endowed residential research
instituteaffiliatedwithHarvardUniversity.Atits coreisaspecial-
ized library devoted to ancient Greek literature, history, philoso-
phy, and related fields. Each academic year the Center offers ten
Junior Fellowships to an international group of Hellenists in the
earlier stages of their careers, as well as a Summer Session for
postdoctoral scholars who need ready access to a strong research
library. In addition, the Center has recently begun an annual
Colloquium series.
TheCHSColloquiaaredevotedto examiningsignificant topics
that will profit from extended interaction of experts in various
fieldswithinandoutsideofAncientGreekstudies.Theseprojects
have a distinctly collaborative character. The organizers first for-
mulate their proposed topic in consultation with the Center’s
Directors and its academic advisory board of Senior Fellows.
They then invite participants to prepare original papers that will
address designated aspects of the topic. In addition to those who
arewritingpapers,severalexpertsareinvitedtocontributetothe
processasdiscussants.Atthecolloquiumitself,intherelaxedand
intimate atmosphere of the Center, participants present and dis-
cuss the papers overthe courseoffourorfivedays.Eachchapter
is then rewritten in light of the discussion, again in collaboration
with the organizers.
This volume represents the revised papers of the first CHS
Colloquium,whichwas held in June 1994.Theorganizers,Egbert
Bakker and Ahuvia Kahane, were Junior Fellows in 1992–93 and
1993–94 respectively. Both had worked on aspects of the per-
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FOREWORD
formance of Homeric epic and were interested in studying such
issues more broadly. They decided to organize a multiauthored,
theoretically oriented book that would consider audience-per-
formerinteractionfromtheperspectivenotonly of ancient Greek
but also of later European oral epic traditions. At the same time,
the Center was developing a new program of annual colloquia.
Project and program matched perfectly, and the first colloquium
was on its way.
Wethankallwhohavecontributedtotheprocess:theorganiz-
ersfortheircreativeinitiativeand scholarlyleadership,all partici-
pants for their cooperative spirit and intellectual energy, the
SeniorFellowsfortheirsupportandadvice,thePress(inparticu-
lar Margaretta Fulton) for its enthusiastic acceptance of the new
series, and not least the entire CHS staff, who made the meeting
apracticalreality.Wehopethatthisfirstvolumeintheserieswill
convey to itsreaders someof the senseofexcitement andmutual
illumination thatwasexperienced by all who participated.
Deborah Boedeker and Kurt Raaflaub
Directors, Center for HellenicStudies
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C O N T E N T S
Introduction 1
Egbert Bakker and Ahuvia Kahane
1 Storytellingin the Future: Truth, Time,
and Tense in Homeric Epic 11
Egbert Bakker
2 Writing the Emperor’s Clothes On:
Literacy and the Production ofFacts 37
Franz H. Bäuml
3 TraditionalSigns andHomeric Art 56
John MilesFoley
4 TheInland Ship: Problems in the Performance
and Reception ofHomeric Epic 83
Andrew Ford
5 Hexameter Progression andthe Homeric
Hero’s Solitary State 110
Ahuvia Kahane
6 Similes andPerformance 138
Richard P. Martin
7 Ellipsisin Homer 167
Gregory Nagy
8 Types of Orality in Text 190
Wulf Oesterreicher
CONTENTS
9 TheMedialApproach: AParadigm Shift
in the Philologies? 215
Ursula Schaefer
Notes 233
Bibliography 265
Contributors 297
Index 299
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Written Voices, Spoken Signs