Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

W. Edson Richmond. "`Den utrue egtemann': A Norwegian Ballad and Formulaic Composition." Norveg, 10:59-88.

While admitting oral-formulaic theory a role in the transmission of ballads, he also attributes morphology to memorization and its lapses. In addition he posits a "traditional manner of singing" so that "by reliance upon the stock words and phrases which are part of this tradition, it is possible for him to reconstruct any ballad which he has heard without necessarily echoing a single expression from the text which was communicated to him" (60). Goes on to illustrate by motif and diction analysis how, in one case, the hypothesis of an archetypal story structure best accounts for extant variants.
Area: NW