New stories

Subject: New stories
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 04:20 PM

I was just thinking. There've been discussions near ad-nauseum on here about what is or isn't a traditional song on here. It's hard to find a balance between preserving traditional song and maintaining respect for the tradition without becoming ossified in the process. I don't remember a similar discussion about story telling, It seems like in the folk tradition there is the same conflict. Actually, I don't see as much of a conflict because when someone identifies themselves as a story teller, I figure they're primarily going to tell folk tales with a tradition as long as your arm. That's great, and I applaud it! Keep the old stories alive, just as I love to see people keep the old songs alive. What I've been wondering is, when were stories relegeated to the past? A good story is a good story, whether it's about something that took place in a Walmart Parking lot or the back forty. Admittedly, I'm on the ignorant side, because wrongfully, story telling seems too heavily slanted toward stories for kids. I'm posting this, not with an agenda or in criticism of anything. I'd like to hear other opinions about the validity of contemporary stores. We are surrounded by great stories that are not traditional. are they of any less value, or interest?

Just asking.

Jerry

Subject: RE: New stories
From: kendall
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 06:51 PM

If it's interesting or funny, tell it.

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 07:00 PM

And a Story , wether Traditional or contemporary would , I imagine , have a lot more "Folk Process" introduced by a different narrator than a song , with its more rigid format .

Subject: RE: New stories
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 02:07 AM

Two of the only genuinely living forms of folklore, constantly having new examples added on a daily [indeed, hourly or even minutely] basis, the joke and the "urban myth", are indisputably forms of folktale — appearing world- or nationwide, none knows whence, and being passed on orally at lightning speed.

Look at any of the 'joke' threads on these forums, read the books by Jan Brunvaand, Rodney Dale, et al; or go to a pub or a party and see how long it is before someone says "here's one you won't have heard before", or "you should just hear what happened to a friend of a friend's auntie", and begins an anecdote you heard earlier in the day from someone else who began with exactly the same formula, and you will see what I mean.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: New stories
From: open mike
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 03:16 AM

"I'd like to hear other opinions about the validity of contemporary stores." (like Walmart ??)

but really, if you google storytelling festival
you will find out how stories are alive and growing and
that people are enjoying spending a whole weekend centered
around stories, old ones , new ones, ones that have movement,
costumes, even cat's cradle string figures that illustrate
scenes from stories...

perhaps there is a festival near you..
here are a couple near me..

http://www.sierrastorytellingfestival.org/
http://www.bayareastorytelling.org/

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 11:09 AM

Glad to hear all of this. I booked a storyteller for a folk festival I ran several years who did all stories he'd created. I thought he was terrific. I thought he was the exception. I know that people are always making up jokes, which I guess I put in a different category.

Thanks for the responses.

Jerry

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Northerner
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 03:27 PM

Hi Jerry

I run a storytelling circle. We are tiny! We allow any type of story. So it can be a true one, a traditional one, or an original one. Most of the stories do tend to be traditional, and that's what I enjoy hearing the most.

When I wear one of my other caps though, I also write original stories. I don't use written stories in the club though.

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 10:41 PM

Glad to hear that, Northener. I ask in part because It was Mudcat and a couple of threads I started posting stories on that encouraged me to write my book The Gate of Beautiful: Stories, Songs, and Reflections on Christian Life. Three or four of the chapters in the book were first posted on here. Stories and folk tales are not the same thing, and I'm glad there's room for both.

Jerry

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 10:55 PM

Stories and folk tales are not the same thing

Unless there's a technical/definition/thingy I missed out on when studying, then collecting and analysing oral histories, I suspect I disagree. In my experience, they can be the same thing but don't have to be.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: New stories
From: Bettynh
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 11:35 AM

Jerry, if you're in the USA keep an eye on your local library. I just came back from a storytelling festival organized by a library system in NY, and the form is alive and well through them. I was impressed by the community of storytellers, young and old, traditional and new. I think someone there who identifies themselves as a storyteller is someone who is willing to speak before a group and tell a coherent story, whether from their own experience, family or other history, or pure fantasy. It's a performance art.

the International Storytelling Center would be a place to start finding these folks.

The Library of Congress through StoryCorps is collecting family stories. NPR is airing them.
Public radio usually also carries Prairie Home Companion and This American Life, both story-intensive.

On the purely commercial side, some comedians have coherent and sometimes dark stories to tell. George Carlin and Richard Prior in the past, Christopher Titus now, tell their own stories in memorable ways.