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I.TheMethodologicalBackground
Asecondimportantcriticworkingwithinasimilarveinoforal-formu-
laicstudiesinthe1980swasBrianStock,whosestudieslikeTheImplica-
tionsofLiteracy(1983),orListeningtotheText(1990)soughtlikewiseto
definethesocialcontextoforalperformance.However,thetwomost
distinguishedscholarswhodevelopedOng’sandZumthor’sworkatthat
timewerearguablyRuthFinneganandJohnMilesFoley,whoataround
thesametimewereaimingatforginganall-encompassingmethodological
apparatuswhichcoulddealwithvariousaspectsoftheoralmodeof
linguisticcommunicationandartisticcreationinitsincarnationsinvarious
placesandtimes.InhermanypublicationssincethelateseventiesFinnegan
hasbeentryingtoseektheeverelusivecommondenominatorwhichthe
multifariousformsoforalliteraturemaytake.Thevalueofherworkseems
tolieintheconstantattempttorelatethefindingstothemethodological
ramificationsdevelopedinthealreadycomplicatedmultifolddisciplineof
oral-formulaicstudiesinordertodeterminetheunderlyingfldeepstruc-
ture”ofalloralcompositionandperformance.
Becauseoftheintendedscope,however,Finnegan’sworkrarelyoffers
anythinglikedefinitiveconclusionsfromthewealthofmaterialanalysed
andtheauthorherselfadmitstothedifficultyofpresentingacoherent
andcomprehensivetheoryaccountingforallthepresentedaspectsofthe
variousincarnationsoforalliterature.
PerhapsthemostfarreachingofFinnegan’sconcreteachievementswas
theconceptualworkdoneonthequestionoftherelationoftheterm
floral”toconceptssuchasflpopularculture”,orflfolkculture”(cf.Finnegan
1988:1-22;Finnegan1992OralPoetry...:16-30),whichhasshownthe
wholeintricacyofthemutualrelationshipbetweentherespectivenotions,
doingmuchtorefutethelong-standingsimplisticequationbetweenthem.
TheapproachdevelopedbyJohnMilesFoleymay,atleastinsome
aspects,appeartooffermoreintermsofaunifiedframeworktodealwith
thevariedmaterialdiscussed.Thisis,however,becausewhatFoleydevelops
inhisrecentpublicationHowtoReadanOralPoem(2002)isperhapsthe
mostall-inclusiveconceptoforalliteratureeverproposed.Itinfactincor-
poratesallkindsoftextsfromthoseoriginatinginastrictlyconceived
floralperformance”happeningalongtheclassicLordandParrylines,
throughformslikethewrittenmanuscriptofpartlyoralprovenance,or
textsresultingfromoralrecitationofpartlyorfullymemorizedwritten
composition,uptopurelywrittentextsusingfeaturesdevelopedfororal
presentationorperformance(cf.Foley2002:1-21,40-59).Thus,while
Foley’smethodoffersthemostcomprehensiveoverviewofalloral-related
