Ауыз әдебиетін жазу тәсілдері: Этнопоэтика

Method of recording text versions of oral poetry

Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i. e. verbal lore) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the formal, poetic performance elements which would otherwise be lost in the written texts. The goal of any ethnopoetic text is to show how the techniques of unique oral performers enhance the aesthetic value of their performances within their specific cultural contexts. Major contributors to ethnopoetic theory include Jerome Rothenberg, Dennis Tedlock, and Dell Hymes. Ethnopoetics is considered a subfield of ethnology, anthropology, folkloristics, stylistics, linguistics, literature and translation studies.

Jerome Rothenberg coined the term ethnopoetics in the 1960s. According to Catherine S. Quick, Rothenberg had recognized that “most translations of Native American oral traditions . failed to capture the power and beauty of the oral performances on the written page,” especially when “Western poetic styles” were imposed upon these written texts (1999, 96). Rothenberg’s influence has increased public awareness of the rich narrative and poetic traditions of cultures all over the world.

The development of ethnopoetics as a separate subfield of study was largely pioneered from the middle of the 20th century by anthropologists and linguists such as Dennis Tedlock and Dell Hymes. Both Tedlock and Hymes used ethnopoetic analysis to do justice to the artistic richness of Native American verbal art, and while they have disagreed on some analytic details, they agree on the fundamental issues and purposes of ethnopoetics.

Hymes, Dell H. 1981. "In vain I tried to tell you": Essays in Native American ethnopoetics. Studies in Native American Literature 1. University of Pennsylvania publications in conduct and communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Hymes, Dell H. 2003. Now I know only so far: Essays in ethnopoetics. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. (hbk); (pbk). Tedlock, Dennis. 1972. Finding the Center: Narrative Poetry of the Zuñi Indians. New York: Dial Press. Tedlock, Dennis. 1983. The spoken word and the work of interpretation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Tedlock, Dennis. 1999. Finding the Center: The Art of the Zuni Storyteller (Second Edition). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. .