Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Raymond Descat. "Idéologie et communication dans la poésie grecque archaïque." Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, n.s. 9:7-27.

Concerned with the development of me aning in AG poetry from the beginnings to the fifth century BC, he probes the oral-written controversy over the Homeric poems. Focuses on the production of poems in oral performance and on their recension in the written medium, concluding that "Hom&egrav e;re a mis (ou fait mettre) par écrit les poèmes" (12). Also contends that the shift to writing and individual composition was a gradual one, with an innovative style not really evident until Archilochos.
Area: AG