The paper focuses on oral storytelling and transformation through the significance of the liminal zone as thresholding. Involving the reader-listener in an experiential and performative approach, the article draws on all of the senses, using a wide range of data such as dreams, drawing, writing, as well as the act of (sacred) oral storytelling and…

Examines David Wagoner's poetry to illustrate how interpreters can sensitize themselves to a poem's kinesthetic energy by attending to the physical cues of poetic structure such as sound and rhythmic patterns, line lengths and endings, typography, and tensions and resistances. (JD)

Discusses Book 3 of Aristotle's "Rhetoric," especially the negative attitude expressed toward rhetorical delivery. (SRT)

Discusses issues of interpretation versus reading in oral interpretation, or the performance of literature. Offers an extended classroom example to make the case for alternative kinds of performance and their ability to keep practices of performing literature valuable in the current academic scene. (SR)

Explains how oral interpretation is uniquely communicative and how the double bind theory of communication can include creativity. Discusses (1) double bind and oral interpretation, (2) creating aesthetic text, and (3) the performance of double bind. (PD)

Uses contemporary language theorists to argue that texts considered nonliterary by traditional standards share properties that theorists praise in literature, such as complexity, richness of language, and potential for interpretation. Insists that performance and literature have a historically sanctioned symbiotic relationship so strong that to…

The ideas of four contemporary poets--Ann Deagon, Lyn Lifshin, Marge Piercy, and Alice Walker--concerning the oral interpretation of poetry are presented in this paper. The poets' ideas relate to the following topics: (1) the importance of reading poems aloud; (2) reasons why they give poetry readings, and effects of their poetry readings on their…

Reaffirms the position of directors (Peter Brook, Tyrone Guthrie, Peter Hall, and others) concerning the "balance of power" between director and playwright in transforming a playscript into a theatrical performance. (PD)

Presents four professors' views on whether contests or festivals are the more valuable formats for developing the art of oral interpretation in students. (PD)

Points out that issues in performance studies (oral interpretation) such as natural and literary language, performing ideology, and marginalized voices are not only not revolutionary but an extension or a return to traditional concerns of a 300-year tradition. (SR)

The recent growth in popularity among college students of dramatic interpretation in forensic competition justifies an examination of textual considerations and resultant criteria important to the evaluation of dramatic literature. The first considerations of the student contemplating the dramatic interpretation event are the selection of material…

Affectionately remembers a college professor and his particular approach to poetry reading and discourse. Refers to a Sufi tale regarding teaching and learning to demystify previous philosophical and pedagogical confusion. (JK)

Understanding communication (of which individual events is a part) requires a triangle among theory-practice-criticism, and any missing component dramatically hinders understanding and ability. Students compete in, and judges judge, forensics to better enhance communication understanding and abilities. The process of oral interpretation requires a…

Interest in oral traditions has benefitted the field of interpretation in two ways: a new emphasis on the social and cultural contexts of performance, and an expanded perspective on performance manifestations. In Richard Schechner's concept of "restored behavior," the interpreter engages in a reconstruction of living behavior independent…

If speech instructors are to teach students to recreate for an audience an author's intellectual and emotional meanings, they must teach them to use human voice effectively. Seven essential elements of effective vocal production that often pose problems for oral interpretation students should be central to any speech training program: (1)…