Postgraduate Course: Oral Narrative: Theory and Performance (SCET11025)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Scottish Ethnology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This seminar-based course will examine the ways in which theorists have attempted to account for the origin and spread of traditional tales, and survey the rich narrative traditions of Scotland and Ireland. Using diverse source materials, students will investigate a range of genres, intersections of orality and literacy, and the potential of narrative research to inform our understanding of human memory. Students will be encouraged to develop skills in comparative analysis, and to gain a critical appreciation of the theoretical underpinnings current in narrative research. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
* Critical awareness of the range of theoretical approaches to studying the folktale
* Knowledge of the different genres of narrative traditions in Scotland and Ireland
* Knowledge of the performance contexts of storytelling
* Knowledge of useful and precise critical terminology
* Development of generic skills in research, analysis and presentation. |
Assessment Information
Essay 1 (50%, 2000 words) on theoretical approaches
Essay 2 (50%, 2000 words) on performance, context and genre |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Wk 1: Storytelling in Scotland and Ireland
Wk 2: Historic-Geographic method
Wk 3: Morphological and structural theory
Wk 4: Psychoanalytic theory
Wk 5: Performance theory
Wk 6: Oral-formulaic theory
Wk 7: The hero tale
Wk 8: The international tale
Wk 9: Migratory legends and tales of the supernatural
Wk 10: Case studies and repertoires
Wk 11: Orality, literacy and verbal memory |
| Transferable skills |
Students will be expected to develop their critical skills in the evaluation of research on traditional narrative. |
| Reading list |
Aarne, Antti, and Stith Thompson. The Types of the Folktale, a Classification and Bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientarium Fennica 1973.
Béaloideas. Dublin 1927-
Black, Ronald. 'The Gaelic Manuscripts of Scotland'. In Gillies. William (ed.). Gaelic and Scotland/Alba agus a' Ghàidhlig. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989: 146-74.
Bruford, Alan. Gaelic Folk-Tales and Medieval Romances. Dublin: The Folklore of Ireland Society, 1969.
_____. 'Scottish Gaelic Witch-Stories: A Provisional Type List'. Scottish Studies 11: 13-47.
_____ 'Legends Long Since Localised or Tales Still Travelling?' Scottish Studies 24: 43-62.
_____. 'A Lost MacMhuirich Manuscript'. Scottish Gaelic Studies 10: 158-62.
_____ 'Logaidh Longsach'. Scottish Studies 12: 190-92.
____ 'Recitation or Re-creation' Examples from South Uist Storytelling'. Scottish Studies 22: 27-44.
___ and Donald Archie MacDonald. Scottish Traditional Tales. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1994
Campbell, John Francis (of Islay). Popular Tales of the West Highlands. 4 vols. 1860-62. Reprint. Birlinn 1994.
Campbell, John Gregorson. Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands. Glasgow: Maclehose, 1900.
_____ Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Scottish Highlands. Glasgow: 1902.
Christiansen, R.T. The Migratory Legends. Helsinki: FFC 175 (1958).
Delargy, James. "The Gaelic Storyteller." Proceedings of the British Academy 31 (1945): 178-221.
__, O hEochaidh, Seán, Máire Ni Néill, and Séamas O Catháin. Síscéalta ó Thír Chonaill / Fairy Legends from Donegal. Dublin: Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1977.
Dorson, Richard. Folklore and Folklife: an Introduction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1972.
Douglas, Sheila. 'A Scots Folk Version of 'The Voyage of Mael Duin'. Scottish Studies 24: 89-105.
Draak, Martje. 'Duncan MacDonald of South Uist'. Fabula 1: 47-58.
Holbek, Bengt. Interpretation of Fairy Tales. FFC 239. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1987.
MacDonald, Donald Archie. `A Visual Memory'. Scottish Studies 22 (1978)
_____. `Some Aspects of a Visual and Verbal Memory in Gaelic Storytelling¿. Arv 37 (1981): 117-24.
_____ . 'Migratory Legends of the Supernatural in Scotland: A General Survey'. Béaloideas 62-63: 29-78.
_____. 'The Balranald Elopment'. TGSI 56: 52-112.
MacDougall, James. Highland Fairy Legends. Ed. By A. Bruford. Ipswich: Brewer, 1978.
Maclean, Calum. The Highlands. 1959. Reprint. Inverness: Club Leabhar 1975
_____. 'Hebridean Storytellers¿. Arv 8: 120-29.
MacLellan, Angus. Stories from South Uist. Translated by John Lome Campbell. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1961.
______________. The Furrow Behind Me. Translated by John Lorne Campbell. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1962. Gaelic version: Saoghal an Treobhaiche. Edited by John Lorne Campbell. Inverness: Club Leabhar 1972).
MacNeil, Joe Neil. Sgeul gu Latha/Tales Until Dawn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1987.
Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. 1968.
Scottish Studies. Edinburgh 1957-
Shaw, John. The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton/Na Beanntaichean Gorma. Agus Sgeulachdan Eile à Ceap Breatainn. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press 2007.
Tocher. Edinburgh 1971-
Thompson, Stith. The Folktale. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1946.
Zimmer, Heinrich. The King and the Corpse. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1971. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | ON:TP |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr William Lamb
Tel: (0131 6)50 3624
Email: wlamb@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Christine Lennie
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: christine.lennie@ed.ac.uk |
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