2.6 March 05, 2021
Hi there!
Welcome back! Within this blog, we will be exploring how the oral syntax works to shape meaning for the story and shaping my understanding of the story Coyote makes a Deal with King of England by Harry Robinson in relation to King’s paper Gozilla vs. The Post-Colonial. Through this assignment, I began to think more critically about how the way we learn about a story affects our understanding of a story. I have touched briefly on this topic in the assignment where we talked about home. As I was going through my peer’s assignments I would read it aloud after I read it in my head. By doing so I realized that I used a different tone and pace for each student. It was also different from the way I would read my assignments. Therefore, I am hoping to understand more of why this happens and the benefits it has to readers.
Beginning with Thomas King’s Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial he raises a good point that oftentimes some literature only exists within one community (186). The reason being language barriers and the relevance of the literature outside the community. People are drawn to things that they know and that they can trust. So when they hear something that isn’t relatable they tend not to listen. However, King argues that Robinson does a good job of bridging this gap and in order to do this, writes in a way that the story would have been told. Bringing the oral to the written. It also gives the reader an inside look at “Ingenity” and what it means to be Indigenous without glamorizing it.
However, with this being said reading Coyote makes a Deal with King of England from Harry Robinson’s collection of stories, both aloud and in my head two different experiences. While reading the book aloud I was focusing more on the actual words and punctuation in order to find a rhythm. But, to my dismay, I had a hard time finding a rhythm, kept tripping over my words and when I did finally find a rhythm it was easily lost, as I got inside my head that I “cracked the code”. I was also surprised as often I am able to find a rhythm and it is easier for me to read but not in this case. I think one of the biggest challenges for me was how colloquial it was. Additionally, when I read it in my head I found it a bit easier, but I still found myself stumbling over words and having to re-read sentences. With this being said I think if I heard Robinson read the story, I would have a much better understanding as I do better when I hear something verbally and pick up on their style of writing.
So, with King’s argument in mind I believe that the reason why I had such a difficult time understanding Robinson’s story even if I read it aloud and silently, is because I wasn’t connected to it and it didn’t seem relevant. But this is not to say that these stories aren’t valid, I was not ready to hear them.
Works Cited.
Charleyboy, Lisa. “The Glamorization of Colonization”. Urban Native Girl. http://urbannativegirl.tv/the-glamorization-of-colonization. Accessed March 5, 2021
“Oral Traditions”. Indigenous Foundations UBC. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/oral_traditions/. Accessed March 5, 2021.
King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Peterbough, ON: Broadview, 2004. 183- 190. Web. 04 april 2013.
Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. Print.
Hi Lenaya,
I think you raise some great points in this post! Your second paragraph makes me think about what tends to be included and excluded from that devious category, “Literature.” What is written off as ephemeral, inferior, parochial, even oral? You (and King) mention the action of language and community, saying that “oftentimes some literature only exists within one community.” Your wording, I think, is insightful. What does it mean for literature to exist? Or to exist here and not there? Part of what I gather from your discussion is that constructions of “literature,” as a social, localized practice, are very particular, and always tied up in values of some sort. “My” literature might be quite different from “your” literature. How do we bridge that gap while acknowledging its existence?
The experience with Robinson’s storytelling you describe seems like an important stage in this sort of journey. I like the idea of searching for a congenial “rhythm”–rhythm can be such a powerful and embodied tool of of interaction.
I was wondering, since you say that you had difficulty understanding Robinson’s story reading both silently and aloud (for which I don’t blame you–this writing is so different from what we usually read!): do you accept King’s claim that Robinson’s “oral syntax” forces readers to read aloud? I have to admit that this point about Robinson’s “prose” seems a slightly strange one to me since my understanding is that the text is basically a transcription of Robinson’s spoken story . . .
Thanks for the thoughtful post!
Hi Connor!
Thank you for your response! To answer your last question, I think that the oral syntax used forces the reader to find a way that they understand the text better. However, it does not mean that they will read it out loud 100% of the time, as they might find it easier to read in their head. By doing so, will maybe allow the reader to analyze and understand the writing a bit better then if they are quickly silently reading it!
Lenaya
Hi Lenaya,
I found it very thought provoking your mention of what I would interpret as a change in inner voice when reading someone else’s work, as you experienced reading through the classes’ “Home” stories. Coupled with your difficulty to find the rhythm of Robinson’s words in “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England,” I wonder if this change in voice has to do with the fact that there is an unknown element ahead? When reading other’s work, we often don’t know what to expect, unless we’ve read the work before. I think sometimes not knowing what to expect, especially with Robinson’s stories, makes it difficult to get “sucked in” like we might with a fairy tale or other fantastical reading.
Hi Cayla,
You raise a really good point that this voice changed, because we don’t know what is ahead. For me maybe it was because I couldn’t predict what was going to happen as the plot aloud the characters to do whatever they wanted?
Thank you again for the response!
Lenaya