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 both King’s article and Robinson’s story.
To answer this question my husband and I read the story multiple times; to ourselves silently and out loud to each other. And while the story “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England” is written, it maintains a very oral construction. King indicates in his article, “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial,” that the oral nature of this story encourages reading aloud, yet I would suggest that it necessitates a verbal reading.
Through the exercise of reading and listening to this story my husband and I realized that we tended to listen to the story more like a song than an account of events. And much like reading the lyrics to a song, reading this story silently did not have the same effect as listening to it aloud. I found that reading the story silently was difficult. I kept looking for a straightforward presentation of the facts and purpose. However, listening to the story aloud I was able to stop focusing on the words and structure of the story, and I found myself absorbed in the feelings the story created. In listening to the story aloud I was not only able to grasp the purpose much better, but I was also able to appreciate the melody of the story.
Because this story is written more how one might speak rather than write, it preserves its spoken character. And I found the story was not just preserving its oral construction, but also preserving its voice; the voice of Harry Robinson. The voice of Robinson is very distinct and clear throughout the story, and an oral reading allows him to tell the story through others. The “oral syntax,” as King calls it, not only creates the storytelling experience, but it also reanimates the storyteller himself.
The conversational tone and structure of the writing create a storytelling experience that requires the reader hear the story aloud to truly hear the story. Through the exercise of reading and listening to this story I have come to the conclusion that this type of “oral syntax” – which is rare in conventional written storytelling – shapes the meaning of the story by creating a much more personal relationship between the storyteller, the reader and story. I think that comparing the experience of stories with this type of “oral syntax” to the experience of a conventional written story is like comparing a dream to a movie.
Works Cited
King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Peterbough, ON: Broadview, 2004. 183- 190. Web.
Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. Print.