Homo narrans. The poetics and anthropology of Oral Literature

John D. Niles explores how human beings shape their world through the stories they tell. This book vividly weaves together the study of Anglo-saxon literature and culture with the author´s own engagements in the field with some of the greatest twentieth-century singers and storytellers in the Scottish tradition. Niles ponders the nature of the storytelling impulse, the social function of narrative, and the role of individual talent in oral tradition. Content: 1. Making connections 2. Somatic communications 3. Poetry as social praxis 4. Oral poetry acts 5. `Beowulf´ as ritualized discourse 6. Context and loss 7. The strong tradition-bearer Conclusion: Wordpower wells from deep in the throat