Oral Epics

The classical oral tales are the best models

Amir Hamza

The Adventures of Amir Hamza is an epic of the Indian subcontinent. We have spoken of the need for talesmen who would compose after the audiobook model to teach themselves a new way of composing, one suited to oral telling. In order to do this, we must go through the whole process of composing, telling orally, listening to what we tell, and making notes on how the tale went over, as an oral tale.

An oral tale is like a song: it can be recorded now, but it also exists as a performance, and every time a talesman performs his oral tale, he composes it anew. Each performance thus is a new draft, a new telling, a new composing of the same basic tale.

We can also learn by studying old oral tales which have been written down. But the best way to study these tales is to listen to them recited, and to recite them ourselves.

The Adventures of Amir Hamza (which you can find at http://www.amazon.com in a new translation of a fairly complete 19th century edition) surely stands out in this regard, for it was written down by a master reciter, who came at the end of a long tradition of oral storytelling.

Amir Hamza and its Chapters

Each chapter of the tale is a separate performance. This is marked by an elaborate introduction of a few long sentences, which are probably meant to quiet the crowd and draw them into the story-world. Nothing about the story-world of the great Hamza is included in these lines; they are generic; they could as well introduce any other chapter in the tale, or any chapter in any other tale. They are also interesting in that they refer to the tale as having been written. I invent an example, not having the book to hand:

The lions of the wild words dance upon the page, and are hunted by the finest of all scribes, to tell in their way of how Hamza went to…

Each of these introductions employ some such fanciful metaphor; pens are like ships at sea leaving wakes of words, the scribes of old are like warriors entering into battle, and so forth.

The chapters also have a title (at least in the translation I have read) as well as a sub-title which explains in brief the action the chapter will encompass.

These sub-titles were once common in books, but I wonder if they had any place in the oral recitation of the tales of the amir? They might have done: as a sort of advertisement:

Hearken, and I will tell you of how Hamza saw and wooed the princess, daughter of the great emperor, and overcame all the guards set about the palace.

These words would draw some crowd from the market place, and establish for them what the tale would be. ‘Oh! I like that tale, I want to listen to it!’ someone might say, and set down the goods he had been considering, and settle before the talesman.

Having gathered his crowd, the talesman would then have launched himself upon his introductory lines.

These lines, when they refer to the ‘scribes of old’ and similar devices, would grant the authority of wise and learned men of the past to the talesman sitting cross-legged on his cloak. ‘It is not I who invent these matters, I merely pass on what I have learnt; better men than I have vouchsafed for their truth and accuracy’ is the implied message.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a marvelous Chinese epic, set in the tumultuous age before the King of Chin won all the marbles, and created, or re-created, the Empire under his sole rule. It exists as a written work, and has been written and, I think, re-written. But the roots of it are oral.

Each chapter of the Romance ends upon a cliff-hanger of sorts, a moment of suspense, some matter not resolved. And then the author asks the obvious question, something like,

Would our hero escape? Read on and you will find out.

If we wish to put that in words suited to the oral reciter, we could say,

Would our hero escape? Listen, and you will find out.

Or,

Would our hero escape? Listen, and I will tell you.

Now, this sort of chapter break could only happen within one recital. Perhaps the talesman grows thirsty, or sees his audience grow a bit weary. Perhaps the break then introduces a short pause or entr’acte. Maybe the aim is to gain some coins in the begging bowl, before continuing.

It may also be that such a tale is broken into smaller parts, each of which suits a short recital, and that longer recitals would then include more than one chapter. This design then allows the talesman to stretch or shrink his performance along the lines of these breaks.

Another idea is that a band of talesmen could be telling these tales; each recites a single chapter, then hands off the telling to his fellow-talesman.

(Composed on keyboard Sunday, May 11, 2008)