Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Jill Mann. "Proverbial Wisdom in the Ysengrimus." New Literary History, 16:93-109.

Describes traditional wisdom in the Ysengrimus, which is often pessimistic in its cautions against the efficacy of its own genre, samples of which "seem to claim validation through the seriousness of their surroundings. But in fact the context in which they are set [the epic], so far from validating them, cynically demonstrates their complete lack of connection with any experience that would give them true force" (106).
Area: ON