African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Character, and Continuity Book

Pt. 1	Backgrounds and Resources
1	The Study of African Oral Literature	3
	What Is "Oral Literature"?	3
	An Interest in Culture	5
	An Interest in Society	9
	An Interest in Literature	12
	Benefits of the New Trends	17
2	The Oral Artist	20
	Training and Preparation	21
	Artists and Patrons	25
	The Artist as Maker	30
	The Personality of the Artist	34
	The Artist's Place in Society	39
3	The Oral Performance	42
	Varieties of Performance	42
	Paralinguistic Resources	46
	Performer and Accompanist	51
	Performer and Audience	57
	Performer and Recorder	63
	Composition and Performance	67
4	Stylistic Qualities	70
	Repetition	71
	Parallelism	78
	Piling and Association	83
	Tonality	88
	Ideophones	92
	Digression	96
	Imagery	98
	Allusion	100
	Symbolism	101
5	Social Relevance	105
	Entertainment and Relaxation	106
	Asserting Interests and Outlooks	110
	Teaching Ideals and Conduct	115
	Recording Life	118
Pt. 2	Types and Themes
6	Songs and Chants	127
	Problems of Classification	127
	The Nature of Songs and Chants	130
	Major Themes	137
7	Oral Narratives	163
	Schools of Thought	164
	Categories of the Oral Narrative	181
	Storytelling in Africa	221
8	Witticisms	226
	Proverbs	226
	Riddles	239
	Puns and Tongue-Twisters	250
9	Musical and Dramatic Forms	253
	The Poetry of Tone Instruments	253
	Ritual Drama	261
	Popular Drama	272
Pt. 3	The Survival of Oral Literature
10	Oral Literature and Modern African Literature	293
	Translation	294
	Adaptation	301
	Exploitation	314
11	Preserving Oral Literature: Fieldwork and After	328
	Attitudes	328
	Preparations	334
	Meeting the Artist	341
	Recording the Artist	343
	Transcription and Translation	347
	Storage	354
	What Do They Get for Their Pains?	355
12	Suggested Further Work	360
	Fieldwork and Documentation	360
	The Urban Scene	361
	Biocritical Studies	363
	Other Specialized Investigations	365
	Notes	369
	Bibliography	375
	Index	385