Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Charles H. Kahn. "Philosophy and the Written Word." In Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy. Ed. by Kevin Robb. La Salle, IL: Monist Library of Philosophy/The Hegeler Institute, pp. 110-24.

Reviews the evidence for understanding sixth-century figures, especially Heraclitus, as having a "special role in developing a new type of prose literature" (111), as possessing "a body of technical literature" (114). Citing such passages as Diogenes IX.6 et al., disagrees with the view that Heraclitus' work was non-literary and implies that he would have understood that prose was the true medium for recording, preserving, and changing the world.
Area: AG