Singers and Storytellers Page: 29
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STORYTELLERS I HAVE KNOWN
his histories nearly to the extent that he weaves them into his
talk. He has lived, observed, and remembered. Now the wells
of narrative and characterization are in artesian flow with him.
I can truly say that I've enjoyed reading Herodotus more than
any other historian. Herodotus never allows fact to get in the
way of narration-or truth-or rhetorical laws of coherence to
dam the flow. He is one of the great storytellers of all ages.
When Evetts Haley cuts loose from documented facts, he's the
same kind of storyteller that Herodotus was, perhaps now with
more irony.
What's the use of going on? It's pictures and stories that
count-not allusions.
I do not believe that any young man of parts could today
set out to find storytellers and meet them on every hand as I
met them between the World Wars. Instead of entertaining
each other with tribal lays now, tribesmen listen to radio and
look at television. I suspect that the percentage of good
storytellers among the sophisticated who spurn sponsored
amusements along with canned advertisements is higher than
among the unsophisticated who can afford television and radio.
Slick stuff may promote sterile wisecracks but will never
engender characters and stories.
When Chaucer comes with his tales and John Aubrey with
his character anecdotes, ideas and causes fade away. All of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's metaphysical theories, spun out of
philosophy-befogged intellect, are forgotten; his sure passport
to immortality is that tale called "The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner." I have an enormous respect for thought. I surrender
all to a storyteller-if he's good enough. It's the despair of a
writing man who has known the best of storytellers that he
cannot translate their oral savor into print.29
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/35/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.