Performance Studies and Medieval Literature
Session Coordinator: Heather Maring
Dept. of English, University of Missouri, Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
hcm50b@mizzou.edu

Storytelling, Performance, and Authenticity in the 1001 Nights

Did the storytellers and redactors of Alf Layla wa-Layla (the 1001 Nights) attempt to portray storytelling events accurately? Was the purpose of frame tales to challenge audiences’ perceptions of storytelling? Does the portrayal of a storytelling event in a work of medieval literature lay the groundwork more for an understanding of literature, oral performance, or the relationship between the two? Drawing upon the work of Bauman, Turner, and Foley, this paper will present an analysis of the various storytelling contexts in the 1001 Nights in an attempt to address these questions.

Bonnie D. Irwin
Eastern Illinois University
cfbdi@eiu.edu

Oral Tradition, Architecture, and Old English Poetry

Architecture in Old English poetry can serve a number of significant functions: a protection against attack as in Beowulf’s Heorot, an extended metaphor as in Advent Lyric I, a reminder of earlier times as in the Ruin, even an active hero as the pillar in Andreas. Awareness of Anglo-Saxon oral traditions brings us closer to understanding the idiomatic meanings of phrases and themes employed in depictions of architecture. For an audience attuned to traditional implications, formulas and images that might appear inaccurate to an audience outside the tradition actually bear great meaning beyond that of literal description-- foreshadowing events to come, marking sacred spaces, or aligning a given building with a specific character. This paper examines several passages (representing various genres as well as building types) in light of Anglo-Saxon architectural studies and with an awareness of performance context in order to understand the poetry in a manner more like that of its original audience. Discussion will draw from scholarship on Old English oral traditions (e.g., John Miles Foley and Katherine O’Brien O’Keefe), performance theory (e.g., Richard Bauman and Barre Toelken), archaeological studies of Anglo-Saxon architecture (e.g., Mary and Nigel Kerr and Eric Fernie), and theories of vernacular architecture (e.g., Bernard Rudofsky).

Lori Ann Garner
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
lagarner@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu

Performance Theory and the Anglo-Saxon Elegies

The Anglo-Saxon elegies reach us solely as manuscripts, usually dated to the last third of the tenth century, but they derive from an early medieval oral tradition.  In fact, the elegies show evidence of at least three axes — textuality versus orality, Christianity versus pagan Germanic thought, and individuality versus tradition — that are better understood as fruitful syncreses than opposing binaries.  As part of a larger project aimed at the hybrid vigor engendered by these three pairs of concepts, this paper will apply performance theory to selected elegies in order to isolate the features of performance that persist into texts and remain active as meaning-bearing signals for a fluent readership.  A full share of the elegies' artistry and rhetorical power stems from the idiomatic language of oral performance, which resonates even in the textual medium.

John Miles Foley
University of Missouri, Columbia
foleyj@missouri.edu