Period Storytelling

[Mark Ramsden]

> > Hi Mark!
> > I doubt that period literature is what someone needs to get a feel how 
> > bards of that time told storys. Or a feel of 'what kind of storys they told'.
> > Those people who told their storys didn't write them down and the 
> > people who wrote down storys didn't write down those storys everybody
> > knew at that time. More: the inteleectuals of that time did feel so
> > arrogant that they didn't want to write something down that came
> > from the 'simple' people.
> > I really doubt, any literature could help. 
> > Any comments?
> > P.S. You harping storytellers: take a look at
> > http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~dido/harfen/dreams.html

It's not merely a matter of "What stories did they tell?" but also "How
did they tell their stories?". *grin*  I was merely wondering how magic
is used in period stories.  It would be a pure mistake to have a wizard
in a pointy hat let off a D&D-style fireball into a host of Tolkien-type
elves.  Using famous mythical beasts, such as vampires, werewolves, and
even ghosts as spear-fodder is foolish as well.  Powerful evils in most
stories required amazing feats of inginuity and ability on the part of
the hero(ine)(s), and often made up the entire story.

I am allowing my mouth to wander, I'm afraid, so I'll finish by saying
that, in hopes of keeping with the storyteller atmosphere, the stories
told must have the 'feel' that they might come from a storyteller, rather
than a top-selling fantasy novel.

> statement implies that it was _expected_ that "bards and storytellers" 
> would know stories "without a book".

Bards and storytellers are not meant to memorize every word.. very true.
This does not mean the detail did not exists.  It was, most likely, "grown"
by the bard, changing with every telling and adapting to the specific
audiences.  For one, this enhances the feeling of "the first time" rather
than a stale, over-rehersed bore.  The audience should feel as though the
events of the story have never happened before, and only now occur, unfolding
as a billowing sheet in the breeze before them.

> But I will leave a question: if we are to discard the available period 
> records of stories and the nature of storytelling as being suspect, what 
> does that leave us? If we are to attempt to re-create period 
> storytelling, it would seem far better to work from materials such as 
> these than to throw up our hands and claim that the task is futile.

This is more of a statement than a question *grin*.  I agree, we must
begin somewhere.

But there is a part of stories that aren't written down: the booming yet
rasping voice of the villain, the frantic look of the frightened victim,
the wind that whispers through the bards lips and cold which brings the
storyteller to his knee, huddled and shivering.  This we must create
ourselves... it's the whole fun of the tale: putting aside reality a
moment to believe, if momentarily, in the deeds of heroes and monsters
long ago.

Borden
-- 
Mark Ramsden (marker at autopsy.cs.athabascau.ca)
This is your brain:   O
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