Storytelling elements

[Brian Wilkins]

At 12:57 PM 1/7/96 -0700, you wrote:
>My current state is confused, I think.

        If that's so then it's only because the answer is confusing... if
you expected an easy answer. It's important to remember that in a discussion
of this sort everyone tends to present that answers that are true for their
favorite time/place.
        Some answers change because there are regional/chonological changes
in the story-telling world, other answers are not different, per se, but
change by degrees (again, as you move through geography and/or time).
        You will not find a single, true answer to the original question.
You will find many answers that are true, and yet conflict with each other,
because the truth that they each represent is dependent on many factors.
While it is reasonable to believe that the old man of the village in
Southern Italy would probably retell the stories of his youth in much the
same fashion as the old man of the village in Ireland would, it would not be
reasonable to conclude that the formal storytelling and poetic forms of each
of those places are alike.

>I suppose, then, I'm wondering what this all implies for the telling of tales
>within the SCA.  As soon as I find myself within reach of a library,
>I am going to begin researching a few popular tales, but it seems a little
>more complicated than I had thought (perhaps).

        Or maybe it is as simple as you thought, if you're choice of
time/place is narrow enough. It's difficult and complex to learn how to
idiomatically recount stories from anyplace in Europe from a thousand year
period, it's relatively easy to learn how to effectively recount stories
from the Arthurian cycle in (for example) a 14th century English fashion.

>Somewhere, I was hoping to find several books of tales, such as Robin Hood,
>Beowulf, etc. but what I find is likely to be altered by modern writers,
>particularly in the case of Robin Hood (depending on the book).

        The key here is to get books written in period, and follow that up
with reading and research on the differences between written and oral
tradition. The Canterbury tales is an obvious choice - for one kind of story
telling. If you like Arthur you can *begin* with Thomas Mallory's
_La_Morte_de_Arthur_, or you can find stories and story collections written
in period about Robin Hood, etc. If you want to know how stories were told
in period it helps to see a written rendering of those stories and work from
there.

>Basically, how far may I stretch the C of SCA?  If I manage to contain the
>important elements of plot, maintain the atmosphere, and tell it well, how
>much do these little "atoms" of tale matter?

        How far you stretch the C is up to you, it depends on your
discretion. It's *possible* to stretch painfully far (after all, we have
entire camps of vampires at Pennsic), but is that really desirable? Do you
just want to learn how to tell stories? Do you want to learn more about
period subject matter so you can easily make up new stories? Do you want to
retell a period story from a period source? Do you want to learn period
subject matter, and period forms to tell a story as much like a person from
the middle ages as possible? There are a variety of available goals, all
equally valid, and what efforts you undertake must depend your premises and
goals.

>I find that much of the SCA is a balance between the C and the A, and at the
>moment I'm finding it a bit tricky *grin*.

        I respectfully suggest that this moment will never end, you will
spend the rest of your years in the S.C.A. deciding (and rethinking, and
re-evaluating, and re-deciding) where the balance between the C and the A
are. I don't know anyone who hasn't has that point change over the years,
it's part and parcel of the hobby we enjoy, and no two people have exactly
the same answer.

          Brian Wilkins              Tampa, FL