Storytelling
Stories are passed on in families, libraries, schools, and elsewhere in the United States today by parents, grandparents, teachers, and several hundred professional storytellers. Storytelling in the United States encompasses a range of traditions, from the oldest Native American tellings to more recent tellings in immigrant communities. In other areas, too, of the non-Asian world, storytelling continues with a similar mix of folk and professional styles. But the widest range and the richest diversity of techniques and stories are surely found today in Asia.
Storytelling remains a part of life in much of modern Asia. Storytellers of various backgrounds help to pass on values and morals, influence voters, keep history alive, and promote rural development. Stories are told by grandparents at home, by learned tellers in South Asian temples, and by East Asian librarians and teachers. Indeed, this age-old medium remains vital today in much of Asia.
Further Reading
Blackburn, Stuart. (1988) Singing of Birth and Death: Texts in Performance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Gurumurthy, Preemila. (1994) Kathakalaksepa. Madras, India: International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilizations.
Mair, Victor. (1988) Painting and Performance. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Morioka, Heinz, and Miyoko Sasaki. (1990) Rakugo, the Popular Narrative Art of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies at Harvard.
Phil, Marshall. (1994) The Korean Singer of Tales. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Richman, Paula, ed. (1991) Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Sen Gupta, Sankar. (1973) The Patas and the Patuas of Bengal. Calcutta, India: Indian Publications.
Song, Bang-Song, (1976) "Kwangdae Ka: A Source Material for the P'ansori Tradition." Korea Journal (August).
Spagnoli, Cathy. (1998) Asian Tales and Tellers. Little Rock, AR: August House.
Stevens, Catherine. (1972) "Peking Drumsinging." Ph.D. diss., Harvard University.
Sweeney, Amin. (1994) Malay Word Music: A Celebration of Oral Creativity. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.
Yanagita, Kunio. (1986) The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale. Trans. by Fanny Hagin Mayer. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
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