From: nadel@attatash.aero.org (Miriam Nadel)
Subject: Re: Computers not a substitute for books
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 23:12:54 GMT

In article <1993Jan10.181017.770@athena.mit.edu> kamorgan@athena.mit.edu (Keith Morgan) writes:
>	I wonder if the perceptual skills necessary to listen to even
>the best storyteller have been attenuated by the visual communication
>styles of our age. I'm not talking about young children who can retain
>that capacity of imagination and wonder that allows rapt attention but
>adults used to both visual mediums and to reading. Visual modes such
>as movies, television, drama, use such a multiplicity of stimuli that
>it is (sometimes) hard to be distracted. Reading and reading aloud
>appear to be much the same but when we read to ourselves we retain the
>ability to skip back word, lines, even chapters. 
>
But good storytellers also use a multiplicity of stimuli.  Another of the
differences that I didn't dwell on between storytelling and writing is
that it is essential to bear in mind that the listener cannot flip back.
This is why repetition is a traditional element of folklore.  I find that
rhythm also makes it easier to remember things and that telling even prose
involves a certain metrical element.

I doubt that one could tell a murder mystery very effectively - there would
be too much simplification.  But stories which focus on character, rather
than intricate plot details, can make effective orature.

Every storyteller I know (some 50 odd) is sensitive to distraction on the
part of the audience and goes to great efforts to keep the audience 
interested.  People involved in storytelling also find their listening
skills develop.

>	I imagine that the storytellers association that Miriam
>mentions in her post is an attempt to recover this lost art. Still, it
>seems to me that it is a difficult task given the skills needed to
>effectively tell a story.

Yes, that is precisely what NAPPS is involved in and it is a difficult task.
But interest is growing.  I've been involved in our local group (Community
Storytellers) for about a year and a half and have seen more and more new
people come each month.  10 years ago when the group started, they had
to beg or hire people to tell.  Now, on open telling nights, it is not
entirely unusual for there to be more people who want to tell than there is
time for, even with our 8 minute a story time limit.  The National 
Storytelling Festival, held in Tennessee in October draws thousands of
people from throughout the country.  The Southern California Story Swapping
Festival got about 250 people last summer and our annual Harvest Story Bash
(a concert, so no opportunity for random people to get up and tell) drew over
100, which is not too shabby for an event advertised only by word of mouth.
This in the heart of television/movie culture.  Some of the more professional
concerts (there's an excellent series in Pasadena, for example) draw several
hundred people.  

I think some of the reason for increased interest in storytelling 
is that it's rare in our culture for people to be thoroughly listened to.  
I feel a certain power in holding an audience and I feel an astonishing 
intimacy with people whose stories I've heard.  This even applies to people 
telling folk tales and literary stories as different people will tell the same 
story very differently.

Or maybe it's just the popularity of Garrison Keillor :-)

Miriam Nadel

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books