Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Edmund V. de Chasca. "Toward a Redefinition of Epic Formula in the Light of the Cantar de Mio Cid." Hispanic Review, 38:251-63.

Interesting argument for the activity of formulaic language and the possibility of aesthetic design by the "conscious artist." His new definition attempts to include the possibility for aesthetic activity, while at the same time allowing for the variable metrical condition of medieval Spanish epic and incorporating both formulaic and thematic patterns: "A formula is a habitual device of style or of narrative mode: as verbal expression it is a group of words form ing an identical or variable pattern which is used in the same, or similar, or dissimilar metrical conditions to express a given essential idea whose connotative meaning is frequently determined by the extent to which it is modified by poetic context; as narrative mode, it refers to the customary but variable manner in which the verbal matter is arranged to tell a story" (257-58, italics deleted).
Area: HI