Oral and written composition are continuous rather than opposed techniques.

Evidence

When the bards there learned to read and write, they were immediately exposed to the corrupting influence of newspapers, magazines and cheap fiction, but if Homer learned to write in the late eighth century, there was little or nothing for him to read. Lord’s generalization about the incompatibility of the two techniques has been questioned by students of oral poetry; in other parts of the world (particularly in Africa), they find no such dichotomy. “The basic point … is the continuity of oral and written literature. There is no deep gulf between the two: they shade into each other both in the present and over many centuries of historical development, and there are innumerable cases of poetry which has both ‘oral’ and ‘written’ elements” (Finnegan, p. 24). — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 50

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Parry-Lord oral-formulaic theory debate and to similar findings in non-Western oral traditions. — connects to: Oral bards improvised anew at each performance rather than reciting fixed texts — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 36; True knowledge requires oral dialogue, not mere reading — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 639; Good dialogue is distilled, not transcribed, speech. — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide…, 172 (+3 more)

Related

• Oral bards improvised anew at each performance rather than reciting fixed texts (similarity 0.83)
• Poetic knowledge no longer depends on writing alone (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The form-content distinction is a methodological device, not a real separation #exemplifies (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 204
• Good dialogue is distilled, not transcribed, speech. #expands (0.50) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 172
• True knowledge requires oral dialogue, not mere reading #qualifies (0.40) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 639
• Writing transitioned from record-keeping to expressing ideas through literature. #exemplifies (0.40) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 287
• Verbal facility allows writers to sound knowledgeable without deep understanding #contradicts (0.35) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 26