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Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature. By John D. Niles. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. 280 pp. Illus. £32.50 (hbk). ISBN 0-8122-3504-5
In Homo Narrans John D. Niles offers a stimulating and compelling exploration of the role of oral literature in society. Implicit in Niles's argument is a celebration of humanity's aptitude for telling stories-a proclivity that distinguishes our species from all other lifeforms: "... as far as I know, no dog or wolf has ever said to another one, 'A funny thing happened to me yesterday on the way to the food source ...'" (p. 198). Niles examines how society defines, celebrates, and re-creates itself through oral narrative: how the tales man tells possess a fundamental degree of "cosmoplastic power, or world-making ability" (p. 3). He steers his focus away from what these stories are, to ask how and why they are told, initiating an investigation into the complex symbiotic relationship between oral literature and the society that produces it: stories that are shaped by their social conditions also possess "some power to shape, as well" (p. 123). In introducing his concept of "wordpower," Niles foregrounds the quasi-spiritualistic and restorative powers of spoken/sung literature in its ability to nurture a sense of identity for a community in providing both links to the past and aspirations for the future. However, Niles resolutely accentuates not only the conservative traditions behind storytelling rituals, but also how the dissemination of...