Routledge Revivals: Turkic Oral Epic Poetry (1992) Traditions, Forms, Poetic Structure

Originally published in 1992, Turkic Oral Poetry provides an expert introduction to the oral epic traditions of the Turkic peoples of central Asia. The book seeks to remedy the problem of non-specialists’ lack of access to information on the Turkic traditions, and in the process, it provides scholars in various disciplines with material for comparative investigation. The book focuses on "central traditions" of this region, specifically those of the Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Karakalpak’s, and Kirghiz and looks at the historical and linguistic background to a survey of the earliest documents, portraits of the singers and of performance considerations of genre, story-patterns, and formulaic diction, and discussions of "composition in performance", memory, rhetoric and diffusion.

Preface Introduction A Note on Transcription and Pronunciation 1. The Turkic Peoples: Backgrounds and Contexts 2. Turkic Epic Poetry: The Earliest Documents 3. The Singer: Shaman, Minstrel, Poet4. Performance 5. Genre 6. Story-Patterns 7. The Varieties of Formulaic Diction 8. Composition in Performance and the Art of Memory 9. Rhetoric, Style, Narrative Technique 10. Transformations in Space and Time Bibliography Glossary of Terms Index