Advanced Storytelling
A journal and discussion of the coursework for Advanced Storytelling, READ 5230, at ETSU Spring 2006.Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Day 1
ETSU Advanced Storytelling Spring '06
Day 1, 1/17/06
2 Absent (Safiya and Chang) 2 guests: Dr. Sobol and Susan..?
After brief introductions, I shared the first half of my storytelling program, Chaste White & Blush Red. This consisted of the following stories:
Pygmalion, part 1
Mother's Rose (about my parent's first blind date)
Snow White & Rose Red
Enkidu & Shamhat (from the epic of Gilgamesh)
Cinder Girl
After a break, we shared observations from the work:
1) The move from casual conversation into formal performance
2) The discovery of the story of Cinderella late in the telling
3) The use of sensual images such as the mud between the toes.
4) The arrangement of stories
5) The occasional aside or break of form
6) The challenge of memorizing and speaking verse
7) The use of personal stories in combination with traditional stories
Here are some of my responses of these points:
1) The move from casual conversation into formal performance
Storytelling is a conversational art form. The conversational quality of storytelling is derived in part from the effort of the teller to know the story but not to be confined by the text. This allows the teller to recreate and discover the text anew as it derives from the conversation. This is what I think of as "discovery composition": the live assemblage of the performance from pre-existing repertory and the present occasion.
Furthermore, the move from conversation into performance is the also the move from the prosaic into the poetic, from ordinary language into elevated language. Insomuch as the move can be made seamlessly, it allows the listener to arrive at poetic language without the chance to establish aesthetic distance. That is to say, the language becomes poetic before the listener can say 'oh,this is poetry now, something other than I am used to.' By this token, the move allows the listener to become 'used to' another way of speaking, thinking, and feeling.
2) The discovery of the story of Cinderella late in the telling
Because Cinderella is a common, familiar story there is the possibility that the listener will cease to listen once the story has been identified. When listeners decide they know what is going to be said, they stop listening. In order to receive a familiar story freshly, it is effective to engage the listener before the story is identified. In this way, the fact that it is a familiar story becomes a refreshing surprise and allows the listener to reconsider the story rather than to dismiss it as an already familiar, already examined work.
3) The use of sensual images such as the mud between the toes
While stories often seek to impart lessons and morals, they are at heart an exchange of experience. Stories are the original virtual reality. By engaging in a story we gain new life experiences that enhance our ability to know and understand the world. (This concept is explored at length in "Tell Me A Story: a new look at real and artificial intelligence" by Roger Schank.) The use of sensual images can be effective in creating the "telling experience."
4) The arrangement of stories
The art of parable is to some extent the art of arrangement. Parable is derived from the same root as parabolic and it refers to comparison, to "setting beside." To present a parable is to place a story beside a given situation. Two distinct situations are in play in a telling performance: the situation of the performance comprised of the people in attendance, time of day, season and so on; the situation of the stories, comprised of the images and ideas being set into contrast with one another.
The act of spelling a word is an example of this art of arrangement. When letters are arranged in specific ways, they create a word, they create meaning. This is a magical act in the same way that casting a spell is an act of magic. Spelling a word is magic. Likewise, the act of placing stories side-by-side before an audience can be seen as a magical act, an act of spelling. The sequencing of stories can be compared with the sequencing of letters. As the letters fall in place the developing word acquires meaning; as the stories fall in place a growing sense of meaning is created. The overall program of a storytelling performance, then, can be thought of as developing spell in which the storyteller is the mage and the listener is the subject or beneficiary of the magical event.
5) The occasional aside or break of form
The storyteller stands at the threshold between the world of the story and the world of the listener. We can think of telling a story as addressing the story and the listener. To do this we may change our language or our style as we "check in" with the listener. A break of form can serve to surprise and awaken the listener and keep the story fresh and entertaining.
6) The challenge of memorizing and speaking verse
Rather than memorize a text the storyteller remembers a story. Remember is the opposite of dismember. The act of remembering is the act of reassembling or resurrecting the story. This allows the telling to be an event taking place in the present as part of the live conversation inasmuch as the story is being recreated for the event.
In the case of memorized verse and text, the challenge is to know the text well enough to be able to speak it in a present manner as part of the conversation; to speak the words "as if" they were just being discovered and chosen at that moment. In acting, this is referred to as "the illusion of the first time."
7) The use of personal stories in combination with traditional stories
This relates to the function of parable and the idea of spelling. By placing personal anecdote beside traditional narrative we explore the universal themes in our local experience and the personal connection to the universal theme. I am interested in bridging our modern lives with ancient stories and in so doing addressing personal alienation and refreshing old, familiar narratives. This is also a way of drawing a homily. By saying "this is an old story" and then saying "this happened to me" you demonstrate the lesson rather than stating it explicitly.
Day 1, 1/17/06
2 Absent (Safiya and Chang) 2 guests: Dr. Sobol and Susan..?
After brief introductions, I shared the first half of my storytelling program, Chaste White & Blush Red. This consisted of the following stories:
Pygmalion, part 1
Mother's Rose (about my parent's first blind date)
Snow White & Rose Red
Enkidu & Shamhat (from the epic of Gilgamesh)
Cinder Girl
After a break, we shared observations from the work:
1) The move from casual conversation into formal performance
2) The discovery of the story of Cinderella late in the telling
3) The use of sensual images such as the mud between the toes.
4) The arrangement of stories
5) The occasional aside or break of form
6) The challenge of memorizing and speaking verse
7) The use of personal stories in combination with traditional stories
Here are some of my responses of these points:
1) The move from casual conversation into formal performance
Storytelling is a conversational art form. The conversational quality of storytelling is derived in part from the effort of the teller to know the story but not to be confined by the text. This allows the teller to recreate and discover the text anew as it derives from the conversation. This is what I think of as "discovery composition": the live assemblage of the performance from pre-existing repertory and the present occasion.
Furthermore, the move from conversation into performance is the also the move from the prosaic into the poetic, from ordinary language into elevated language. Insomuch as the move can be made seamlessly, it allows the listener to arrive at poetic language without the chance to establish aesthetic distance. That is to say, the language becomes poetic before the listener can say 'oh,this is poetry now, something other than I am used to.' By this token, the move allows the listener to become 'used to' another way of speaking, thinking, and feeling.
2) The discovery of the story of Cinderella late in the telling
Because Cinderella is a common, familiar story there is the possibility that the listener will cease to listen once the story has been identified. When listeners decide they know what is going to be said, they stop listening. In order to receive a familiar story freshly, it is effective to engage the listener before the story is identified. In this way, the fact that it is a familiar story becomes a refreshing surprise and allows the listener to reconsider the story rather than to dismiss it as an already familiar, already examined work.
3) The use of sensual images such as the mud between the toes
While stories often seek to impart lessons and morals, they are at heart an exchange of experience. Stories are the original virtual reality. By engaging in a story we gain new life experiences that enhance our ability to know and understand the world. (This concept is explored at length in "Tell Me A Story: a new look at real and artificial intelligence" by Roger Schank.) The use of sensual images can be effective in creating the "telling experience."
4) The arrangement of stories
The art of parable is to some extent the art of arrangement. Parable is derived from the same root as parabolic and it refers to comparison, to "setting beside." To present a parable is to place a story beside a given situation. Two distinct situations are in play in a telling performance: the situation of the performance comprised of the people in attendance, time of day, season and so on; the situation of the stories, comprised of the images and ideas being set into contrast with one another.
The act of spelling a word is an example of this art of arrangement. When letters are arranged in specific ways, they create a word, they create meaning. This is a magical act in the same way that casting a spell is an act of magic. Spelling a word is magic. Likewise, the act of placing stories side-by-side before an audience can be seen as a magical act, an act of spelling. The sequencing of stories can be compared with the sequencing of letters. As the letters fall in place the developing word acquires meaning; as the stories fall in place a growing sense of meaning is created. The overall program of a storytelling performance, then, can be thought of as developing spell in which the storyteller is the mage and the listener is the subject or beneficiary of the magical event.
5) The occasional aside or break of form
The storyteller stands at the threshold between the world of the story and the world of the listener. We can think of telling a story as addressing the story and the listener. To do this we may change our language or our style as we "check in" with the listener. A break of form can serve to surprise and awaken the listener and keep the story fresh and entertaining.
6) The challenge of memorizing and speaking verse
Rather than memorize a text the storyteller remembers a story. Remember is the opposite of dismember. The act of remembering is the act of reassembling or resurrecting the story. This allows the telling to be an event taking place in the present as part of the live conversation inasmuch as the story is being recreated for the event.
In the case of memorized verse and text, the challenge is to know the text well enough to be able to speak it in a present manner as part of the conversation; to speak the words "as if" they were just being discovered and chosen at that moment. In acting, this is referred to as "the illusion of the first time."
7) The use of personal stories in combination with traditional stories
This relates to the function of parable and the idea of spelling. By placing personal anecdote beside traditional narrative we explore the universal themes in our local experience and the personal connection to the universal theme. I am interested in bridging our modern lives with ancient stories and in so doing addressing personal alienation and refreshing old, familiar narratives. This is also a way of drawing a homily. By saying "this is an old story" and then saying "this happened to me" you demonstrate the lesson rather than stating it explicitly.
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