The Art of Story Telling

So far in this class, the main way we've experienced the fairy tales we have been studying has been through reading them from an anthology of tales. In the anthology, the tales have been collected, of course, in written form, a form that has been in many ways necessary to the way in which have been studying them. None of us know every fairy tale by heart, so in order to have any hope of comparing and contrasting different versions from around the world, it is necessary to have them packaged in one place. Having the tales written down also makes it easier for the reader to analyze the tale and, in some cases, it is only because it was written down that we still have access to a particular tale at all.

Related imageTo be sure, having these stories written down is useful, but it is also not the only way to experience a fairy tale. As we learned in the first few weeks of class, most fairy and folk tales originated in oral traditions, in which they were told, not read. Luckily, this week, we were able to explore this aspect of fairy tales in an awesome lecture by Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe.

Dr. K'Olewe came to our class to talk about the Kenyan story telling tradition. He explained to us the significance of story telling in traditional Kenyan culture and society, all while intertwining a series of stories into his lecture as examples for each point. This was the best part of his talk - Dr. K'Olewe is a really good story teller! Hearing the stories told out load and so well seemed to add a kind of energy to them that hasn't always been present in the written tales we have read for class. They felt more alive (or at least alive in a different way) and, in a some sense, I suppose that they were. Dr. K'Olewe explained to us how, even though the general structure and lessons present in the tales he told always remined roughly the same, he would often change the specifics from telling to telling. This flexibility in the content of a particular story is one of the main differences between oral literature and written literature, the content of which is pretty much locked in place after it is written down. The stories he told also involved a lot of singing and audience participation, in which the story teller would sing one part of a song and the audience would sing a response. The participation of many people seemed to add even more energy to the tale.

Dr. K'Olewe's talk certainly helped add to our knowledge of the form and function of fairy tales in different cultures around the world. However, I think that he also helped us to learn about certain aspects of folktales and oral story telling that can't really be taught, but have to be experienced. So far, I think that experience might have one of my favorite parts of this class.

Picture Credit:
jacobswellscommunityhub.com/baths/story-telling-evening/

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