The World of Storytelling, Anne Pelowski Essay (Chapters 1 & 15)

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CHAPTER ONE

-definition of storytelling: Storytelling as an art means recreating literature--taking the printed words in a book and giving them life.

-talks about the evidence of orality and the evidence of the role of storytelling (an example of evidence is cave drawings)

-also talks about the audience

-audience participation was a huge part of storytelling; stories within stories; interactive stories

-in some cases, the audience knew the original version of the story, and therefore understood the humour

-this chapter also talks about how writing doesn't develop out of story telling; writing developed in order for people to have permanent records of things

7 Reasons oral story telling developed: (page 226)

entertainment

to explain the world

explain/honour the supernatural world

to communicate experience

art

to record history

to encode/preserve social norms

-Late 18th century adults weren't part of the oral storytelling culture anymore

-Reasons for this? the printing press, chapbooks;

-storytelling became for children only

-page 230-31 describes the different definitions of 'storytelling' and why certain people didn't like them

-meaning of storytelling is changing/shifting

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

-this chapter discusses visuality, orality, and literacy and their relation to storytelling, along with their primary and secondary qualities

Primary visuality: the ability to appreciate, interpret, and understand a local narrative depicted in two-dimensional pictures; the ability to draw, sketch or paint

Secondary visuality: the ability to appreciate, interpret and understand a local narrative on television, film, filmstrip, or video

Primary orality: the ability to appreciate, interpret and understand a local narrative told by a live person to an audience listening in real time

Secondary orality: the ability to do the above by means of listening or telling via telephone, radio, video, etc.

Primary literacy: the ability to read and write a local narrative in one's native language

[no secondary]

(local narrative refers to a story that is generally known by the people of a given locality)

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