1] In his article, “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial,” King discusses Robinson’s collection of stories. King explains that while the stories are written in English, “the patterns, metaphors, structures as well as the themes and characters come primarily from oral literature.” More than this, Robinson, he says “develops what we might want to call an oral syntax that defeats reader’s efforts to read the stories silently to themselves, a syntax that encourages readers to read aloud” and in so doing, “recreating at once the storyteller and the performance” (186). Read “Coyote Makes a Deal with King of England”, in Living by Stories. Read it silently, read it out loud, read it to a friend, and have a friend read it to you. See if you can discover how this oral syntax works to shape meaning for the story by shaping your reading and listening of the story. Write a blog about this reading/listening experience that provides references to the story.

 

Allow me to begin this assignment by defining oral syntax to my best knowledge. Syntax can be described as the set of governing principles surrounding language, for which oral syntax, in particular is less easy to ‘govern’ in comparison to written syntax; the former being comprised of utterance, and thus perhaps involving ‘speaking before thinking’ and not vice versa. In Harry Robinson’s “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England”, oral syntax thus takes on both an important and interesting role in shaping the story.

Reading it silently to myself around two times, I often found myself ‘mouth-ing’ along with the words, although silently, the manner through which the story is told was only meaningful to me through my action. The first silent time involved me glossing over many facts which I only discovered to be important to the plot and to my understanding after I had read it out loud. In total, I went over the story roughly nine times in order for me to have declared to my boyfriend that I understood what Robinson was saying. I did not get him or anyone to read the story to me; writing this blog post right now I really do regret that as I am unable to grasp that perspective of ‘being told’ this story.

An important aspect raised in this unit once again is the role of perception and its ability to change through time, from perspectives. It has been a recurrent theme I have definitely observed from my understanding of Canadian literature and also contributes to my understanding of this story in particular. The method of storytelling has many uses, benefits.

Robinson’s oral syntax within his story is described by Thomas King in his article “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial”. After running through Robinson’s story the first time, King’s words resonated with regards to the need to “read aloud” the story, recreating “the storyteller and the performance” (King 186). As readers, we have instead performed the story for ourselves, our friends and our family and in with each ‘performance’, having created a different story for ourselves. This is the role perspective plays and its importance in the narration of stories- storytelling.

King points out the importance of Robinson’s work, the emphasis of the role of the first nation history, and our own subconscious reiteration through our ‘performance’, passing along yet another form of oral tradition through our interaction with the piece (189). Indeed, ‘these are our stories’ and there is a rich history which lies in Robinson’s piece with regards to the role of perception. The use of what appears to be rhetorical questions about “knowing” within the story includes each reader in the understanding of the plot, even if the reader could be one completely alien to Canadian literature (Robinson 89-90). Reiteration also serves the purpose of ‘convincing’ the reader or listener to believe what is being said, “you come” “I go” and other directives becoming a given by the time the story comes to a close (Robinson 64-85).

Most importantly the form of each line was recited (by myself) in such a manner that I enjoyed the story very much. Although often confusing due to the truncated sentences, I believe this is a powerful form of storytelling and was very entertained by the various interpretations I had throughout the process!

 

Kielburger, Marc and Craig Kielburger. “The Power of Storytelling.” Postmedia Network Inc Online. 7 April 2015. Web. 19 June 2015.

King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Mississauga, ON: Broadview, 2004. Print. 183- 190.

Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. Print. 64-85.

Wilson, Nina. “What is Aboriginal Storytelling?” Saskatchewan Libraries Online. Web 19 June 2015.