Medieval Oral Literature

Medieval literature is to a large degree shaped by orality, not only with regard to performance, but also to transmission and composition. Although problems of orality have been much discussed by medievalists, there is to date no comprehensive handbook on this topic. 'Medieval Oral Literature', a volume in the 'De Gruyter Lexikon' series, was written by an international team of twenty-five scholars and offers a thorough discussion of theoretical approaches as well as detailed presentations of individual traditions and genres. In addition to chapters on the oral-formulaic theory, on the interplay of orality and writing in the Early Middle Ages, on performance and performers, on oral poetics and on ritual aspects of orality, there are chapters on the Older Germanic, Romance, Middle High German, Middle English, Celtic, Greek-Byzantine, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Turkish traditions of oral literature. There is a special focus on epic and lyric, genres that are also discussed in separate chapters, with additional chapters on the ballad and on drama.

Autorentext

Karl Reichl, University of Bonn, Germany.

Zusammenfassung
"Karl Reichl, the veteran researcher of both Middle English romances and Turkic oral epic, has assembled a dream team of international experts [...] It is interesting to speculate which half of the book will stand up the best in twenty, thirty, or forty years' time. [...] The answer to our speculative question might be that both halves of the handbook have elements that may prove lasting. Of course, it is only books with a breadth and depth similar to this one that can have such questions asked of them."
Jonathan Roper in: Folklore, 129:2, 208-209, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2017.1373950