Before literature : the nature of narrative without the written word / Sheila J. Nayar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nayar, Sheila J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Storytelling.

Narration (Rhetoric).

Physical Description:

xiii, 223 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 20 cm

Other Title:

Narrative without the written word

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2020.

Summary:

"Before Literature examines storytelling when, due to historical, technological or socio-economic circumstance, a narrative was neither shaped nor influenced by alphabetic literacy. How does a story unfold when carried solely in memory, when it could not be written down or externally stored? What structural and stylistic pressures were imposed when it had to travel through space and time exclusively by word of mouth? In Before Literature, Sheila J. Nayar addresses these very questions, guiding the reader in a lively and accessible manner through the key features of the storytelling that came before writing, print and digital communication. Nayar shows how narratives unaffected by these technologies, such as the Mahabharata and Homer's Odyssey, informed contemporary forms like Bollywood masala films, Hollywood spectaculars, comic books and beach reading. This clear and accessible guide is an ideal starting point for undergraduates approaching the study of orality. It offers a fundamentally different way of thinking about narrative, but also meaningfully and intelligibly discloses the "what" and "why" of literature, leading to a much deeper overall understanding and appreciation of its significance"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Denaturalizing Literacy

The Story Behind Before Literature

Existence Without Inscription

Myth and the Mythical, Epic and the Epical

Why Pre-Lit Matters

But There Is Always a But...

A Beginning with No Definitive Beginning

A Digression on the "Once Upon a Time..." of Star Wars

Beginning In Medias Res

Ending Anti-In Medias Res-and Pro-Status Quo

"And This Happened... And Then This... And Then..."

Epic Examples of Episodic Epics

[[Boxes] within Boxes] within Boxes

Flashbacks, Masala Style

Lists, Lists, and More Lists

In Defense of Clichés and the Formulaic (Yes, Really!)

Repeat, Recycle-and Repeat (& Recycle)

Whence the "Traditional"?

The Acoustic Landscape

Ancestors & Alienation

Alienation & Participation

The Agon of Audiences-But, Even More, of Actors

Blood and Guts

Violence + Veneration = A Polarized World

When Exteriority Is Not a Bad Thing

But, What of Art? What of Aesthetics?

Oral Embodiment

Superhuman Vessels

Is Anti-Psychological Necessarily Unreal?

Animating Abstract Knowledge

Information Classification: General

The Absence of Irony, the Pleasure of Parody

Is There an Oral Chronosense?

Do Intellectuals Suffer from Alphabetically Literate Elitism?

Why the Humanities Matter-to All of Us.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Nayar, Sheila J., Before literature

ISBN:

9780367242800

036724280X

9780367242817

0367242818

OCLC:

1101280048