Oral Cultures Past and Present: Rappin' and Homer

by Viv Edwards, Thomas J. Sienkewicz

Rap and Homer? It may seem incongruous to link the verbal gymnastics of black America and the epic poetry of ancient Greece. yet there is nothing frivolous in pairing the two, for both represent skilled exponents of richly developed oral cultures. The techniques of their craft, their relations with their audience and their place within the community are common bonds of more significance than the distances which separate them. This book, the collaboration of a classicist and a sociolinguist, ranges across six continents and 3000 years, taking in the oral world of Homer, the orators of Madagascar and Samoa, the story-tellers of Africa and the Caribbean and the rappers of America and Britain today. In their panoramic account, the authors explore particularly the characteristics and techniques of the oral performer and the active role of the audience in the performance. The interchanges of performer and audience include praise and blame, boasts and self-blame, abuse and counter-abuse. The authors look too at the structure and connections of oral performances, marked by repetition and elaborations, proverbs, lists and riddles. The work is aimed at undergraduates and specialists in sociolinguistics, English folklore, black studies and classics.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1991

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

The juxtaposition in the subtitle of Oral Cultures Past and Present was irresistible to me: "Rappin' and Homer." In learning about the technique of composing poetry orally, I have thought it was comparable to the art of freestyle rapping. Truth be told, rap per se does not feature prominently in this book, but it expands the range of oral culture explored in books like Albert Lord's great The Singer of Tales.

Most intriguing to me was the way the authors showed common techniques to what I have thought of as oral poetry (Homer, Slavic and Turkic bards, African griots, etc.) in such fields as African-American preaching and children's playground rhymes and games. The two authors, one an American classicist and the other a British anthropologist, find common ground in sharing their expertise.

Though I learned a lot from reading this book, it must be said that there were a distressing number of typos in the text. Most flagrant was a reference to "Fanz" (i.e. Frantz) Fanon. Better proofreading, let alone editing, would have greatly benefited everyone involved.