Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

P.D. Uxov. "Commonplaces (loci communes) as a Means of Documenting Byliny." Trans. Stephen Soudakoff et al. In The Study of Russian Folklore. Ed. Felix J. Oinas and Stephen Soudakoff. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 207-17.

Studies recurrent, formulaic phrases (which he calls loci communes) in the byliny finding (1) that they are not memorized but amenable to creative manipulation by different narrators, (2) that each poet develops a personal set of formulas differing from those of other poets, (3) that the commonplaces are used consistently, that is, functionally, and (4) that slight modifications of a narrator's phrases can occur under varying narrative conditions.
Area: RU