FOLK 348 401: Folklore and Literature

Dan Ben-Amos
Lecture: Tuesday 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Cross-Listed with COML 348, NELC 352
Contact: dbamos@sas.upenn.edu

The purpose of this course is to explore the mutual relationship between oral and written literatures as they manifest themselves historically in different societies, cultures and languages. Under certain circumstances both modes of literary creativity occurs and have social and literary impacts upon each other. The course will examine the situations and the ways in which literary authors resort to their respective traditional oral literatures and the literary representations of orality in literacy. We will consider the historical, ideological, cultural, and literary aspects of the interrelationship between the spoken and the written word. Students of the ancient civilizations, classical and medieval as well as modern literatures will be able to conduct research related to their special interests, and at the same time will gain comparative perspectives on oral and written literatures.

 
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