Hello friends,

There’s all sorts of exciting news for this post: first and foremost, my first semester of graduate school for storytelling has come to an end.  It was an eventful semester in which I learned a lot, particularly just how much I still have to learn.  While I’m grateful for the break, I’m also looking forward to getting back to school and focusing on my studies with even more intensity, now that I’m settled in and getting into a bit of a groove.

Exciting news 2: I just got a brand new car, and it is a beauty - 2008 Honda Civic Coupe, by far the nicest car I’ve ever driven, and its wonderful on gas (approximately 40 a gallon on the highway), so I can be take care of the environment while driving to share stories.  Yes, I will be paying it off forever, but I’m getting a reasonable rate and I really needed a new car (I love my old car, but all glories must come to an end someday).

And the exciting news 3: I’m coming back to Bloomsburg for a visit soon!  You may have already heard about this (via the newsletter), but its still exciting.  I’m looking forward to sharing stories with all my friends on the 19th, the 21st, and the 22nd.  View my “Up Coming Travels” for more info.  They all will be splendid shows, and I’m excited to share what I’ve been learning.

Finally, I’d like to share some of my studies with you now: below is a transcription of a story I heard recorded by Willie Claflin (a master storyteller, check him out), and a paper concerning it - exploring what elements it has that are also found in an oral culture and what elements that come from Willie living in a literate culture (the United States of America).  I will admit that some of the arguments are slightly convoluted, and, in this posting, the lines of the transcription are not numbered, but if you feel like reading an academic paper, please dive in; I find it interesting.  If you would prefer a copy as a word file (with a transcription with the line numbers), just let me know and I’ll email you one.  But anyway, here we go…

To Be Oral or Not to Be:

An Analysis of the Oral and Literary Elements in a Recording of Willy Claflin’s Piece “Barn Roof/Full Moon” from the 1992 International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee

By: Lethan Candlish

To Be Oral or Not to Be…

Long before there were books, there was storytelling.  Storytelling is an oral art form, and was first used by oral cultures.  Due to the permanence of writing as opposed to the instantaneous disappearance of spoken language, the interaction with language in oral cultures is different from that in literate or post-literate cultures.  Storytelling is an oral art form, yet, in the contemporary American storytelling circuit, storytellers, and their typical audience, are literate.  Storytellers have adapted to this scenario in various manners, and an observer will often see influences from oral culture as well as literate culture in a storyteller’s work.  This paper will look at one storyteller, Willy Claflin, who has successfully used this oral art in contemporary, literate society by bringing some elements from both oral and literate culture to his work.  For this, Claflin’s piece, Barn Roof, Full Moon, recorded at the 1992 National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, will be analyzed in terms of what elements of the piece are consistent with those of an oral culture and what elements imply that the performer and listeners are from a literate culture; the elements discussed have been suggested by Walter J. Ong in his book Orality and Literacy; each element will be discussed individually.  In this analysis, Claflin’s piece will be referenced by the transcription the live recording that is attached to this paper.

Oral Elements

In this piece, Barn Roof/Full Moon, the additive structure of the piece is the primary way in which the attachment to oral culture is apparent.  In his book, Ong discusses how, in his words, “Written discourse develops more elaborate and fixed grammar than oral discourse does because to provide meaning it is more dependent simply upon linguistic structure…” (38).  Instead of relying on grammatical rules to best describe a situation, as in written discourse, oral discourse tends to focus on the constant addition of elements.  For a simple example, instead of reading: “The man passed a porcupine, as he was out for a walk,” a piece might be told as: “A man went for a walk and he passed a porcupine.”

The structure of Claflin’s piece is in this additive style.  The piece begins by mentioning the long gap in Claflin’s memory (ln 1) and then describing the “Free School” (ln 3-27).  This is added onto in line 27 when the listener is informed about the concert: “…and also, / we decided to give a concert to the full moon… (ln 27-28).  This structure continues as the setting for the piece is told: the audience learns about each element (the women and men’s groups, the split in the men’s groups, the beginning of the party), in the additive structure: the women’s group is described as split into two, and there is a men’s group and the men’s group is in danger of splitting into two groups, and it was decided there should be a party, and (ln 55-111)…  While Claflin does not always use the word “and” when describing this scene, his choice of words, chosen for a literate audience, could have been replaced with it; but inserting the word “and” as often as required would not sound proper to a literate ear and might distract the listener from the story.

After the scene is established, and Claflin’s character somehow gets on the barn roof (ln 147), the listener is taken on a journey through the rambling series of stream of consciousness thoughts by the character.  Yet, while the thoughts themselves denote a literate culture (that will be discussed before), they are strung together in using the additive narration style.  After the narrator has taken the listener on a complicated reasoning as to why every moment is completely different, and therefore one cannot learn from experience, reality returns with the words, “And I realized it was really cold up there” (ln 215, emphasis added).  After a brief recognition of the situation, the listener is transported into the next monologue of abstract reasoning, again with additive language.  In Claflin’s words, “And I remembered my panda, Amanda Panda (ln221, emphasis added)…”  The final return to reality does not occur with the word “and,” but Claflin’s phrase could just as easily be substituted with it.  Claflin’s words are, “Well there was still the matter of my being cold…” (ln 236). but these could be substituted with the words, “And there was still the matter…” and retain the same effect.

Once the narrator has finally decided he must leave the barn roof, the journey to his bedroom (ln 244-300) is done in a similarly additive style: the string of actions used to describe the journey is strung together with the word “and” or words that could be easily substituted for it.  From the piece, “…and there was a la-dder in the shadows, / at the edge of the roof…so… / I moved my body down…/and then I steered my body across the, uh, lawn. /  I figured…/ I should have my body wave to them, so I went -/ and I watched, there it was…” (ln 271-282).  Please note, it is recognized that, in the above quote, Claflin does not entirely rely on an additive structure.  There is a causal relationship in line 272: “There was a la-dder in the shaddows,…so…/ I moved my body down.”  It is recognized that this is a literate use of language, and Claflin does not restrict himself to the use of additive language, but much of the overall structure of this piece is created using this oral cultural oratorical form.

The orality of Claflin’s work can also be seen in the participatory nature of the piece.  In this context, participatory means both: inclusion of the audience as part of the story and participation by the performer in the story.  Both forms of participation will be shown to occur in Claflin’s story.

As the story unfolds, Claflin is quick to help the audience feel as if they are part of the story.  The most obvious example of this audience inclusion occurs when Claflin begins to play Weight by The Band (ln 133).  During this piece, the audience is invited to join in the “bellowing” of the song.  The song is well enough known that, as far as one could tell from the recording, the majority of people in the audience knew the refrain.  If they didn’t, the refrain is simple enough that one would likely be able to learn it and sing along by the second or third repetition.  The inclusion of the audience in the story allows the audience to recognize the instantaneous nature or the event they are a part of; and allows them to know they are a part of the oral event of the story.  In the majority of examples for literate/post-literate art works (including movies, literature, or theater), there is a wall between the art and the audience; in these art forms, the audience cannot directly affect the art.  By inviting the audience to sing with him, Claflin works to disassemble that wall.

While the sing-a-long is the most obvious example of this audience inclusion, Claflin’s technique in telling the story also includes the audience: he is speaking directly to the audience, not to an imaginary character or a “fourth wall.”  This is apparent in the casual manner in which the piece is delivered: the performance has a conversational tone in which Claflin does not appear to be attempting to perfect the language or present a flawless delivery; there were too many verbal stumbles if Claflin was seeking a flawless delivery.  The audience is also included in the piece by being used as examples.  When Claflin remarks on the joy of reuniting with his body, he suggests that the audience must understand this emotion.  In his words, “I mean, you know, so - / I mean you’re a body…” (ln 287-289).  This oral element of participation makes the audience part of the story as opposed to an outside observer of it.

Claflin also includes himself in the story, by making himself the principle character in the piece.  This blurs the line between the performer and the story.  In Orality and Literacy, Ong recognizes this blurred line in between the performer and the story as occurring in oral discourse, including the audience as part of this blur (46).  With the above mentioned techniques used to include the audience in the story, it can be said that, in this story, Claflin works to fully create the blur found in orality.

Above, two strong oral elements of Claflin’s story/performance have been shown; but this is not to imply that the performance is oral; to the contrary, there are many aspects of oral culture that are not included in the story and the way Claflin presents many of his ideas is indicative of a literate culture.  This paper will now explain how the many of the ideas in the story demonstrate that Claflin is aware he is performing to a literate audience; the paper will then discuss what elements often found in an oral culture’s discourse are missing or have only weak examples in Barn Roof/Full Moon.

Literate Elements

In this story, Claflin introduces a variety of ideas that would not be thought of in oral cultures.  The first of these occurs in the introduction of the piece, when the idea of “consciousness raising” is introduced (ln 32-50).   It could be argued that this idea is dependent upon the being in the present moment/the present situation and therefore is akin to oral discourse (Ong 49-57).  Granted, having one’s consciousness raised, as described in the story, could be an aspect of oral culture (being in the now), but the way in which the justification is explained by Claflin puts the concept in the literate realm.  Speaking about the benefits and justification for the process, Claflin states “…When people didn’t realize the suchness of this moment…” (ln 35).  The “suchness” of a thing is a literate concept.  As explained by Ong, “…In a primary oral culture… knowledge cannot be managed in elaborate, more or less scientifically abstract categories.  Oral cultures cannot generate such categories…” (137).  While the “suchness” of a thing is not a scientific term, it does imply some abstract force outside of the empirical reality of a moment.  The irony in this statement is that the concept Claflin is attempting to explain seems to be in line with oral cultural existence, just being in the now, yet he applying literate concepts to the explanation.

The next three strongest examples of literate reasoning occur when the narrator is on the barn roof.  While on the top of the barn, the narrator begins to recognize the differences in each of the shingles on the barn roof (ln 169-213).  In this moment the character is caught in the details of the moment, again, an aspect of oral culture, but his literate logic takes him to a variety of abstract concepts: from recognizing that each shingle necessarily has a different temporal history to concluding that it is impossible to learn from experience.  In this situation, Claflin’s character has recognized aspects of an oral culture (such as the differences in objects, such as two trees, not being the same thing) and then applied literate reasoning to these and, eventually, making a claim that denies common sense: that one cannot learn from experience (ln 208-209).  Once again, Claflin’s story creates an irony through the combination element from an oral culture with elements from a literate culture ending in ridiculousness.

The listener is then treated to another journey of the narrator’s logic when world peace being attained through the stuffed animal, Amanda Panda, is discussed (ln 221-234).  This monologue not only is based upon a literate logic involving abstract concepts (“…Then everyone would just be…” (ln 223), this seems to be a concept similar to that of “suchness”), this monologue also has references to other parts of literate culture such as Henry Kissinger and Ho Chi Min.  While people may be remembered in oral discourses, the references in this piece are given in such a way that the audience is supposed to understand the humor without the presenter stating their place in history; this would not be expected in oral culture.

The final example of literate abstract thought from Claflin’s story that will be used in this paper occurs when the narrator moves his mind to the bedroom and controls his body from outside his body (ln 247-300).  Again, Claflin is creating an abstract category, the mind, and separating this from empirical reality.  Not only is the concept of the mind being separate from the body a literate concept, but the idea of controlling the body from outside does not have a pragmatic value, there is no observable physical interaction, and it is through the physical use of a thing that oral cultures categorize an object (Ong 51).

Another literary concept used in the story is the defining of two terms in the piece. Oral cultures are not typically worried about definitions, focused on the use of the object in a current situation.  As explained by Ong, “Words acquire their meanings only from their always insistent actual habitat, which is not, as in a dictionary, simply other words…Word meaning comes continuously out of the present, though past meanings of course have shaped the present meaning in many and varied ways, no longer recognized.” (47).  Claflin defines three concepts in the piece: consciousness raising (ln 32-46), thinkers (ln 70-75), and breathers (ln 77).  At first glance these definitions all seem as if they could have been created in an oral culture: the terms are defined by what they do (attaining the suchness of a moment, attack political institutions, and breath while making embarrassing eye contact); but these definitions are all based upon the thing’s history.  It may be argued that, by the definitions given, these things are still doing the event, but that is an assumption: we don’t know that the “breathers” are still making eye contact.  A slightly stronger argument could be made concerning the defining of “consciousness raising,” as Claflin asks us to all raise our consciousness together while he is defining the term, but this is still reliant upon past knowledge.  In Claflin’s words, “…It’s hard / to imagine a dark – kinda age time when people…” (36-37).  This phrase takes the definition out of an oral discourse for two reasons: it’s referring to a past “dark age time” – not based in the now – and it’s referring to an abstract concept, imagination.

The elements described above: the use of abstract concepts, references to people in the literary consciousness, and defining of term; are elements in the piece has which suggests it is a literary discourse.  To add to that, there are several elements typically found in oral discourse that the piece does not have, or has only weak examples of.  The next section of this analysis will examine what elements indicative of an oral work are missing in Claflin’s work.

Oral Elements Missing

Oral discourse is filled with repetition: think of the spoke catch phrases or refrains so often found in folk and fairytales.  This is due to the fact that, in oral discourse, the audience does not have the ability to reference early parts of the work to remind themselves of the speaker’s last point; instead they must remember the important elements.  As expressed by Ong, “(In oral culture) there is nothing to backloop into outside the mind, for the oral utterance has vanished as soon as it is uttered.  Hence the mind must move ahead more slowly, keeping close to the focus of attention much of what is has already dealt with” (40-41, italics added).  It is for this reason that repetition is used: reminding the listener of the most important points allows them to be referenced with greater ease.  Yet Claflin’s piece is lacking in repetition: there are no repeated phrases spoken throughout the piece and at no point can the audience anticipate the wording of the next phrase.

There is, however, one scene that might be considered repetitive: when the narrator is on the barn roof and is reminded of his coldness (ln 147-239).  In this scene, the repetition comes not from a phrase but from recognition of the situation.  The first time the narrator recognizes where his is occurs is in line 147: “And all of the sudden I was on the barn roof.”  From here the story travels into the abstract reasoning (discussed above) only to return at line 215: “And I realized it was cold, up there.”  This reminds the audience of the situation long enough to go into another round of abstractness, only to have the idea of the physical situation return one more time at line 236, when the narrator states, “Well there was still the matter of my being cold…”  While this isn’t a repeated phrase, it is a repeated idea, and it does serve to remind the audience of the important fact at that point in the story: that the character is on the barn roof.  While this could be considered repetition, it is a weak example of it: it does not occur consistently enough or have a standard rhythm or rhyme to the repetition.

Oral discourse also is known for storing and passing on knowledge (Ong 41), and, as with the repetition, Claflin’s piece has only weak examples of storing knowledge: explaining consciousness raising (ln 33-46) and playing The Weight by The Band (ln 133).  When Claflin presents the idea of consciousness raising, he recognizes that he is passing on a tradition from the past; in his words, “…Now if / you’re not old enough to know about consciousness raising I just have to quickly / tell you about consciousness raising” (ln 32-34).  Claflin then goes on to ask the audience to join him in the exercise.  While the tone of the piece suggests that this is satire, it does preserve an idea from the stereotypical the “hippie culture” that Claflin associates himself with in this piece.  Playing The Weight might be considered a preservation of knowledge because it is passing on the song; sharing a version that some in the audience might remember and some might be hearing for the first time, but with the abundance of recordings and musical manuscripts already documenting this piece, it is not a strong example.

Moving on, in Claflin’s piece, there is no clear villain: the conflict is the narrator attempting to get into his bed safely; it might be considered a conflict of man verses gravity, but gravity is never personified in the piece.  Due to this, the piece lacks an agonistic tone, another characteristic of oral culture.  In the words of Ong, “Many…oral cultures strike literates as extraordinarily agonistic in their verbal performance… Enthusiastic descriptions of physical violence often marks oral narrative” (43, 44).  Claflin’s piece is about a bunch of hippies gathered together and sharing in the love of the moon; violence does not seem a likely occurrence at this event.  There are, however, two moments that do have a slight reference to violence.  The first of these occurs when the narrator discusses the negative results of the children’s school, a school where the children were allowed to determine their own course of study.  In Claflin’s words, “…We had children going ‘Peace Now’ and belting each other over the head with things” (ln 23).  While children beating each other could be considered a tragic event, the tone used in the description has a comically-enthusiastic tone that reduces the tragedy for the audience.  This is an enthusiastic reference to violence, but the comic tone of the narration has the effect of reducing the sense violence, making this example weak at best.

The second example occurs in the description of the conflict between the thinkers and the breathers.  In this conflict, the leader of the thinkers makes a verbal attack upon the leader of the breathers.  Verbal attacks are often used in oral stories: in Ong’s words, “…Verbal tongue-lashings of an opponent figure regularly (occur) in encounters between characters in narrative” (44, italics added).  The wording used in this “tongue-lashing” provides more of the irony of a literate culture practicing an oral art.  These exact words used are, “Expletive deleted, / you expletive deleted expletive deleted” (ln 102, 103).  The term “expletive deleted” is obviously a euphemism for some degrading term, and a euphemism is a literate concept – an abstract reference a different concept – yet, by using this, Claflin provides a brief example of having an agonistic tone, characteristic of an oral culture.

There is one of Ong’s characteristics of an oral culture that is completely missing from Claflin’s piece: being aggregative rather than analytic.  As described by Ong, “Oral expression…carries a load of epithets and other formulary baggage which high literacy rejects as cumbersome and tiresomely redundant because of its aggregative weight…So soldiers are brave and princesses beautiful and oaks sturdy forever” (38, 39).  Claflin provides no such labels for any character in his piece.  This could come from the fact there is minimal interpersonal conflict in the work, but even when some conflict arises, such as in the above discussed bickering between the thinkers and the breathers, no value is given to the character of the bickerers: the listener is never told of the violent thinkers, the lazy breathers, or any other adjective combined with a noun.

In the above it can be seen that Full Moon / Barn Roof is an oral work created for a literate audience: it is filled with literary references and abstract concepts, yet it does not forget its roots in oral discourse, as seen through the additive structure and participatory elements of the piece.  This work satirizes the literate culture in which it was created: mocking American society’s attempts to return to its oral, empirical roots using literate means (ie. consciousness raising, what the texture of the shingles implies…).  Through this, the audience is taken on a wonderfully humorous journey that allows American literate society to observe its absurdities from a safe distance.

Works Cited

Claflin, W. (Speaker). (2003). Where Were You in ‘72? – Live from the National Storytelling Festival. (Live recording from the National Storytelling Festival, 1992). August House, Inc. Transcription by Lethan Candlish, (Nov 30, 2007).

Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and Literacy. New York, NY: Methuen & Co. Ltd.  

Tonight I went to see a storytelling concert with four world-class storytellers: Dr. Joseph Sobol, Connie Regan Blake, David Holt, and Shelia K. Adams.  It was a beautiful concert, with several moments that moved me, but what I found exciting was, on my way out, I realized that this was not unusual: seeing world-class storytellers happens on an almost weekly basis.  It reminded me what an honor it is to be located right here, right now, and to be gaining such a splendid education in storytelling; speaking of which, I need to get back to my school work.  Enjoy it all.

It’s late at night, and I’m almost finished with my paper (a study of a storytelling piece by Willie Claflin in terms of literacy and orality), and I am done for tonght- we’ll see if I can get some more done in the morning.  It’s a fascinating project, but now is time for sleep.  I hope all is going well for you are we approach the holidays.

PS: If you’re in the Bloomsburg area, check out my new scheduled events.  I’m hoping to have a great time sharing some new material with my friends at home.

At: Grace S Beck Elementary School,
Sunbury, PA

The first performance of Lethan’s return home to Pennsylvania for a holiday visit, Lethan will be sharing some tales with his friends as they prepare for a holiday break.  A fun celebration of a break from school.

At: Open Your Eyes to Dream Art Gallery, Bloomsburg, PA
Admission at Door: $5 or $4 with a food can for donation
*PLEASE NOTE* These are stories for mature audiences, not intended for children
Lethan is excited to be returning to his home town of Bloomsburg to share some of his new work. This will be an evening of new stories and storytelling techniques that he has acquired while studying the art in Tennessee. Lethan is excited to share his studies with his friends in Pennsylvania and perhaps even see some new faces.

This semester is coming to a close, and while I’ve had a blast during it, and have learned a hoopla of information, I am currently going through the end of the semester rush trying to get all the final projects completed.  They are interesting, but I’m recognizing more that, especially as graduate student, I need to be far more timely in getting projects completed.  I’ve been waiting for all my fellow procrastinators to unite, but we keep putting it off until the tomorrow.

So, no more waiting.  Getting my work done and I will NOT let this crunch happen next semester.  I’ve put it in writing, so that’s that!  And for now, lets keep up the push.  Toodles.

At: Phillip’s Emporium, Bloomsburg, PA

At this performance, Lethan will be letting some fun tales for youth tumble out.  A free performance filled with some of Lethan’s favorite tales to tell from times gone by as well as some new works he has picked up in Tennessee.  Take a break from holiday shopping/stress and enjoy some family tales.  Perhaps you’ll even find a last minute Christmas present while at the coffee house/bookstore.  For parents and children alike.