Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Ruth H. Webber. "Ballad Openings: Narrative and Formal Function." In El Romancero hoy: Poética, vol. 3 (Romancero y poésia oral). Ed. Diego Catalán, Samuel G. Armistead, and Antonio Sánchez Romeralo. 2deg. Coloquio Internacional, University of California, Davis. Madrid: Cátedra Seminario Menéndez Pidal. pp. 55-64.

Focusing on the Gerineldo (of which there exist more than 850 versions), La Condesita (323 versions) and El Cid y Búcar, she documents the nature of initial elements: "the romance will always have a standard functional opening of relative stability that identifies it, provides essential information, initiates the action and, at the same time, has certain formal qualities that make it readily recognizable as such" (p. 64).
Area: HI, FB, CP