Textualising the Siri Epic (FF Communications, 264)

Lauri Honko

ISBN 10: 9514108132 / ISBN 13: 9789514108136

Published by Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1998

About this Item

695 pp., illustrations, bibliography, index. How does an illiterate singer produce a long oral epic? What is the origin of his "text", available only for a fleeting moment at its performance? How can a multifaceted oral performance be transformed into a book? The primary oral textualisation and the secondary written codification of the Siri epic, 15,683 lines, are described in detail in the present volume on the basis of recent fieldwork among the speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, in southern Karnataka, India. The "oral author", Mr Gopala Naika, is one of the many talented singers of oral epics in Tulunaadu and a possession priest in rituals which use oral epics as their mythical charter and a source of mental therapy.

Seller Inventory # 9514108132FIN070622

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Textualising the Siri Epic (FF Communications, 264)
• Publisher: Academia Scientiarum Fennica
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9514108132
• ISBN 13: 9789514108136
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • India

About this title

Synopsis

How does an illiterate singer produce a long oral epic? What is the origin of his "text", available only for a fleeting moment at its performance? How can a multifaceted oral performance be transformed into a book? The primary oral textualisation and the secondary written codification of the Siri epic, 15,683 lines, are described in detail in the present volume on the basis of recent fieldwork among the speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, in southern Karnataka, India. The "oral author", Mr Gopala Naika, is one of the many talented singers of oral epics in Tulunaadu and a possession priest in rituals which use oral epics as their mythical charter and a source of mental therapy.