Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-08-24T17:07:28Z

Created a new article

New page

{{Short description|Tradition between the storyteller and their audience}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{peacock|date=November 2011}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2011}}
}}
[[File:A Story-teller reciting from the "Arabian Nights." (1911) - TIMEA.jpg|thumb|A Story-teller reciting from the "Arabian Nights" - 1911]]
[[File:Indian Kathakar Storyteller 1913.jpg|thumb|''Vyasa'' (sitting on high table), the common title for Indian oral storytellers, reciting epics among villagers, 1913]]

'''Oral [[storytelling]]''' is an ancient and intimate [[tradition]] between the storyteller and their audience. The storyteller and the listeners are physically close, often seated together in a circular fashion.<ref>Hodge, F.S., Pasqua, A., Marquez, C.A., & Geishirt-Cantrell, B. (2002). Utilizing traditional storytelling to promote wellness in American Indian communities.</ref> The intimacy and connection is deepened by the flexibility of oral storytelling which allows the tale to be moulded according to the needs of the audience and the location or environment of the telling. Listeners also experience the urgency of a creative process taking place in their presence and they experience the empowerment of being a part of that creative process. Storytelling creates a personal bond with the teller and the audience.

The flexibility of oral storytelling extends to the teller as well. Each teller will incorporate their own personality and may choose to add characters into the story. As a result, there will be numerous variations of a single story.<ref>Silko, L. Storyteller. New York, New York: Seaver Books Pub., 1981</ref> Some tellers consider anything outside the [[narrative]] as extraneous, while other storytellers choose to enhance their telling of the tale with the addition of [[visual]] and [[Sound recording and reproduction|audio]] tools, specific actions and creative strategies and devices.

Storytelling may be performed in many forms: in prose, in poetic form, as a song, accompanied with dance or some kind of theatrical performance, etc.

==Human need==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}}

It is likely that oral storytelling has been around as long as human [[language]]. Storytelling fulfills the need for human beings to cast their experiences in narrative form. This long tradition of storytelling is evident in ancient [[cultures]] such as the [[Australian Aboriginals]]. Community storytelling offered the security of explanation—how life and its many forms began and why things happen—as well as entertainment and enchantment. Communities were strengthened and maintained through stories that connected the present, the past, and the future.

Telling stories is a nurturing act for the listener, who is connected to the storyteller through the story, as well as for the storyteller, who is connected to the listeners through the story.

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2020}}
[[File:Dastangoi dastango.jpg|thumb|An Indian traditional oral storyteller [[Dastangoi]] artist reciting the "Dastan"]]

Early storytelling probably originates in simple chants {{citation needed|date=August 2014}}.

People sang chants as they worked at grinding corn or sharpening tools. Our early ancestors created myths to explain natural occurrences. They assigned superhuman qualities to ordinary people, thus originating the hero tale.

Early storytelling combined stories, poetry, music, and dance. Those who excelled at storytelling became entertainers, educators, cultural advisors, and historians for the community. Through storytellers, the history of a culture is handed down from generation to generation.

The importance of stories and storytellers throughout human history can be seen in the respect afforded to professional storytellers.

The 9th-century fictional storyteller [[Scheherazade]] of ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'', who saves herself from execution by telling tales, is one example illustrating the value placed on storytelling in days of old. Centuries before Scheherazade, the power of storytelling was reflected by [[Vyasa]] at the beginning of the Indian epic ''[[Mahabharata]]''. [[Vyasa]] says, "If you listen carefully, at the end, you'll be someone else."

In the [[Middle Ages|Middle Ages,]] storytellers, also called a troubadour or a minstrel, could be seen in the market places and were honored as members of royal courts. [[Medieval]] storytellers were expected to know all the current tales and, in the words of American storyteller [[Ruth Sawyer]], "to repeat all the noteworthy theses from the universities, to be well informed on court scandals, to know the healing power of herbs and simples (medicines), to be able to compose verses for a lord or lady at a moment's notice, and to play on at least two of the instruments then in favor at court." According to some writers, there were 426 minstrels employed at the wedding of Princess Margaret of England in 1290. Two of the storytellers in the court of [[King Edward I]] were two women who performed under the names of Matill Makejoye and Pearl in the Egg.

Journeying from land to land, storytellers would learn various regions' stories while also gathering news to bring back with them. Through exchanging stories with other storytellers, stories changed, making it difficult to trace the origins of many stories.

In the 1800s, Jakob and Wilhelm [[Brothers Grimm|Grimm]] collected and published stories that had been told orally in [[Germany]]. They did not publish them as they found them, however, but edited them in accordance with their own values. Like the Grimm brothers in Germany, [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen|Peter Christen Asbjrnsen]] and [[Jorgen Moe]] collected [[Norwegians|Norwegian]] folk tales. In Denmark, [[Hans Christian Andersen]] adapted folktales he heard from oral storytellers. In England, [[Joseph Jacobs]] recorded collections of folktales from [[England]], Scotland, and [[Wales]].

In the 1900s, the importance of oral storytelling was recognized by storytellers such as [[Marie Shedlock]], a retired English schoolteacher. She made several trips to the [[United States]] to lecture on the art of storytelling, emphasizing the importance of storytelling as a natural way to introduce literature to children.

==Professional storytellers in various cultures==
*[[Ashik]]/ashough, in Turkic cultures
*[[Bard]]
*[[Pingshu]], Chinese culture
*[[Dastangoi]], India
*Qissagoi, [[Pakistan]] and India
*[[Fili]] & [[Seanchaí]], Ireland
*[[Goliard]]
*[[Griot]], West Africa
*[[Gusans]], of [[Parthia]] and [[Armenia]] of old times
*[[Kobzar]], Ukraine
*[[Maggid]](Hebrew) Jewish
*[[Minstrel]]
*[[Dengbêj]], Kurdish epic singer
*{{Interlanguage link multi|Ozan (poet)|ru|3=Озан|lt=Ozan}}, term predating ''âşık'' ("ashik") in Turkic cultures
*[[Üliger]]shin, Mongols, Buryats
*[[The Hakawati|Hakawati]], Arab culture

==Oral storytelling festivals==
{{See also|Storytelling festival}}

In the 20th century oral storytelling has undergone a revival of interest and focus. Including the establishment of a number of storytelling festivals beginning with the [[National Storytelling Festival]] (USA) in [[Jonesborough, TN]].<ref>Wolf, Eric Interview with Connie Regan-Blake on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show A history of the National Storytelling Festival. 2008</ref>

Regional storytelling festivals bring tellers of a certain state or region together for entertaining, telling and education in the art.

==Films==
* ''[[How People Got Fire]]'' - Animated film about oral storytelling in Native culture

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Jane Yolen; ''Favorite Folktales From Around the World.''
* Stone, Packer & Hoopes (1983); ''The Short Story-An Introduction''
* Carlson, Ann D. Storytelling. World Book Advanced. 2009

==External links==
* [http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/ Tim Sheppard's Storytelling Resources]

[[Category:Oral literature]]
[[Category:Oral tradition]]
[[Category:Storytelling]]

Oral storytelling - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article