Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading I
Folks:
As described in class and on WebCT, you are asked to respond via the "Comments" function to ONE of the questions about the reading. Please complete this "Comment" response to one of the following questions by Tuesday 1.31.06 9:20am.
Glassie: Ch. 4 “The Next Day”
We spoke in class about "history" as it works in an oral culture; refer to your class notes on that discussion. In addition, please respond on the blog with 1 comment to at least 1 of the following questions (e.g., pick 1 of the following questions and post 1 comment containing your response):
"Also in this chapter, we get extended examples of Glassie’s method for transcribing (e.g., capturing on the page) “oral history”—that is, history which is conveyed in speech and conversation."
- What specific orthographic (e.g., structure, grammar, and writing style) choices does Glassie make in these transcriptions? And why do you think he makes them?
- What are the advantages to the rather peculiar orthography which Glassie employs?
posted by CJS @ 11:47 AM
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16 Comments:
In this chapter, Glassie transcribes Nolan's story in a very unique manner that I find to be quite interesting and beautiful in its own way. When Hugh Nolan begins talking about Black Francis, the words on the page are more spaced out; they aren't clumped together into paragraphs. By grouping the sentences and words together in this pattern, I believe Glassie is trying to give the reader a sense of how the story was originally told. As you read down the page, you can almost hear what it might have sounded like as Hugh Nolan told it. The story is spaced out along the page almost to space out the time in re-telling it. Obviously Nolan wanted to put the facts in an order that the listener would be sure to follow.
Glassie composes each quoted line as if it were poetry. He seems to value each word and phrase like it is a work of art. He also quotes, not only the words of the storytellers, but also the pronunciation. In this way, he makes the story distinctly the work of the storyteller instead of his own arrangement of the words. Both of these aspects of his transcribing portray the immense respect that he has for these great historians.
I think that Glassie composes the stories to look something like poetry not only to give the reader an idea of how the story might have originally sounded--though that it definitely part of it--but also to emphasize the fact that storytelling is an art all of its own. It is not just like reading a story out of a book--it has more of a human aspect than that. It is also not clearly identifiable as one style or another (i.e. prose or poetry), but rather takes on aspects of each to create a distinct story format. Above all else, I think Glassie wants to emphasize to the reader that storytelling is a distinct art form with recognizable distinguishing characteristics.
i agree with the comments that the orthographic choices make the story seem like poetry. i believe he does it like that because, as he says in chapter two, that it's really about how the story is told, how it is conveyed one person to another. and a lot of that kind of experience is lost in writing, and glassie is overcoming that by making the story more like how it was told to him orally. i think that's really interesting because the same goes for the music tradition as well. you can only get a sketch of a tune from a piece of paper; it gives the outline of the melody, but the soul--the ornamentations, the underlying pulse, the impromptu variations--can't be written down. it's something that comes from watching and learning from someone demonstrating it.
Glassie is obviously attempting to reveal to the reader the very essence of the "way" these stories are conveyed. If one uses their inner voice (yes, the little one that talks to you), and transforms the voice from our familiar American accent into the voice of an old Irish man sitting in his home with a friend, Glassie's goal will be accomplished. I feel that Glassie uses the awkward indentions and spacing to slower the reader down. Perhaps he realized that one's mind gets into modes of speed-reading. Well, the whole chapter is dedicated to how the "historians",namely Hugh Nolan, took precious time to memorize the accounts and tales they heard. I wasn't sure myself how I should approach these "oral histories", but when I stopped and read each line as if Mr. Nolan himself were facing me, the orthography made complete sense! There are certain places where Glassie makes several indentions almost past the middle of the page; and I think that Glassie is trying to portray the great thinker as he rattles his memory for the exact account. To me, I see Mr. Nolan sitting in his chair, pipe in hand, speaking at a contemporary pace that takes the listener to the very scene where Corrigan leaps the Sillees. My interpretation of Glassie's writing style shows how Glassie doesn't desire for us to be readers, but rather listeners...to a miracle in the works.
This is just a side note. I really enjoyed this chapter. As I was reading, I was also looking for some patterns that Dr. Smith had mentioned we do. I found a beautiful one. If you read it again, you'll see that Glassie uses three word sentences often. "History is beyond." "Land obliterates chronology." etc. In my perspective, Glassie desparately wants this chapter to be an honorable salute to the men who have "waged the war of a lifetime." The locations where Glassie places these three word sentences strikes me when I read them because, as I mentioned in the previous comment, they are persuasions to slow down and appreciate what is taking place. This chapter was very moving to me because I felt that Glassie in his profession admired Nolan in such a way that he would never be able to express in words the compassion and respect he had for Nolan. I don't know if Glassie meant for there to be a pattern of 3-wrd sentences, but I feel blessed to have these aspects show me the reverence of the "historians" Glassie has. I encourage you all to read it a second time through, and just...listen. :)
I agree with Amber that the way Glassie writes this chapter has characteristics of both poetry and prose. This creates a rather unique way of presenting the tale Glassie wants to tell his readers. From what we have gone over in class and what I have read, I think Glassie did this to make the chapter read the way an Irishman would tell the story (hopefully that makes sense). By doing this, readers can sort of gain an understanding of how Irishmen tell their stories. This is good in that it helps people who are getting ready to go to Ireland to get a feel for how stories are told there. This style also helps keep the readers interest. I will be honest here. I have had trouble staying interested in the previous chapters we have read from Glassie's book mainly due to how they were written. This chapter however kept my interest. I am fairly certain this was due to Glassie use of a different writing style. One disadvantage of this style though is that I had to go back and re-read a few areas to catch everything that Glassie was trying to say. I think this was due to how Glassie kept shifting from his thoughts to the stories that he wanted to share. Overall though, I think the style is quite effective.
Looking at Glassie’s transcription of Nolan’s story I am immediately reminded of a poem. Glassie has also transcribed the meter or better yet the pace of the story telling. The irregular spacing and line breaks grasp how Nolan must have told the story. The reader can get a sense of the timing and phrasing Nolan used. As with all story telling, the words or text are only half the story. The real story is how it is told. This may be even truer in the Irish tradition. That is what separates good storytellers from ordinary ones. And from Glassie’s testimony, Nolan is no ordinary storyteller.
I think the way Glassie records Nolan's story is very unique. He doesn't write it in paragragh form, but more like a poem or song lyrics. I think this illustrates the Irish cultures love of music and performance. Telling a story about history is not just telling an oridinary story, it's a performance in its own right, and therefore should be recorded as such. Glassie makes another point in this chapter, stating that art is subordinate to history. Even though the Irish value art and music very highly, they will not undermine history for its sake. I think that shows a hierarchy in art forms in the Irish culture.
Glassie is making his orthographic choices for several reasons. It certainly seems to visually represent what the story actually sounded like. It seems to me, that Glassie is using this entire chapter to imply some important things about the telling of histories (as opposed to stories or songs). The way he visually represents the histories he hears is poetic. History in the hands of a man like Hugh Nolan isn't just a string of facts. Consequently, (as stated in the chapter) art is still secondary to the facts. Glassie seems to make this chapter all about _how_ the story is told, from the orthography of the actual story to the prose description of how and why stories are told in this manner. I also thought it was crucial that Glassie emphasized the exchange between the listener and the historian.
In this chapter, Glassie describes both hugh Nolan and Black Francis. When Hugh Nolan begins to tell the story, the orthography of the writing changes a lot. Glassie changes from writing in a paragraph style to a very distinct converstional style. He begins to one line statements, and also spaces his words differently to create a sense of flow in the story. For example, when Glassie talks about the river running against the hill, the lines are indented differently for each line to create a picture of the river. This orthography helps preserve the idea that storytelling is an art that is unique to each person. It also helps the reader get a better undertanding of how exactly the story was told. Different italicized words create an emphasis that would have been obvious if the reader were sitting in an audience listening to the story.
An advantage of Glassie's orthography, including deliberate line breaks, grammar, and italicizing, are used in his transcriptions of the stories and conversations to more accurately reflect spoken word and language as he heard it. The “oral history” portrayed in the transcriptions looses affect as it is written down. Line breaks preserve pauses in speech and the “markedly rhythmic” style of speaking and grammar is altered from the standard grammar style and rule to further echo the nuances of colloquial language. Italics are used in order to emphasize particular words on the page that were emphasized as the stories were told and conversations recorded. All of these things add to the reader’s ability to recreate the transcriptions as they are read.
Glassie writes in the preface that he wants to break away from the scholarly tradition, and also that his teachers in Balleymenone deserved his utmost display of accurace and honesty (his form of social responsibility and reciprosity). Using the orthographic technique of writing out the actual cadences of speech helps to serve both of the aforementioned goals. Writing in this manner is a truer representation of the story than a grammatically correct, word for word description, as it provides the reader the opportunity to take note of significant stresses and pauses in speech that a more traditional transcription could have afforded.
Glassie has not only expressed his work poetically in this chapter, but throughout everything we've read so far. Even the Preface was surprisingly eloquent and all he was doing was basically dropping names. Most scholarly books are tedious, but Glassie is able to convey all of the necessary facts in an interesting fashion by intermixing them with beautiful syntax and prose and a sufficient amount of narrative. In this chapter, he describes everything in perfect detail...so much so that when you really get reading it's easy to imagine yourself there with them. He always regards Hugh Nolan with a tremendous amount of respect and it is really reflected in the style of his writing and the specific diction choices he makes. Also, in the transcriptions of the conversation, he not only sets them up well, but writes them dialectically. This gives it authenticity.
• What specific orthographic (e.g., structure, grammar, and writing style) choices does Glassie make in these transcriptions? And why do you think he makes them?
In other chapters we have read, Glassie is somewhat formal, very factual and very careful to present a clear, truthful depiction of the culture he is writing about. However in this chapter, his writing seems to flow more gently, almost with a soft rhythm. To demonstrate his point, he incorporates actual stories that people have told him. In the reading we have done thus far it has always intrigued me that the storytelling is so rhythmic and poetic. It seems as though because Glassie utilizes so many stories in this chapter, he makes the effort to give his narration the same feeling. While reading, these orthographic features allowed me to feel as though I was reading a story about a man seeking stories of a new culture, rather than reading a factual narration of one man’s journey to learn about his own people.
one unique piece of orthography is found in the structure of Hugh Nolan's story found on page 113. It's almost like Glassie is trying to reflect how the story was told by changing where the sentence or particular line was placed on the page. This makes the reader read the story a bit slower and more closely, and probably closer to the way Glassie himself heard it.
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