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 s  story.

As we’ve learned, there are certain elements to story-telling in orality that literature can not recreate. Story telling in the oral form can only take place when particular conditions are met, where there is both a story-teller and an audience that actively participates in the same temporal space. And when all the stars align, elements contingent of duality of both parties transpire. A story is told and listened to; there are intervals reserved for conversation, questions and reactions; participants are able to play off each other’s emotional reactions as the story graduates; the story-teller may create personal dynamics to the story through their voice, body language, timing and sometimes even music; and with that, a unique raw energy is created in the moment that is different every single time.

When these stories meant for the oral channel is materialized on paper, we get the chance to technically breakdown what, where and how some of these elements come to life when executed. Through “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England” by Harry Robinson, I was able to extract a few components I thought were interesting and play and integral part in oral syntax.

The first aspect that caught my eye was how the lines were broken down. Just like written poetry, lines are not broken down arbitrarily. When thinking about Robinson’s story meant to be consumed in the oral form, the line breaks provide for the story-teller to give a break, and fundamentally conducts the flow of the story. This story particular allows listeners to build imagery, and follow every step of the plot meticulously and in detail. An except that demonstrates the effectiveness of this line breaking would be,

“And for many years.
And the white people came from east
and they kept moving to the west coast.
All along the West Coast
And the white people, they got a boat,
And they go on the boat like from San Francisco.
And they go across the sea to Australia
Or, they go to China.
Go to New Zealand on the boat.
They always do that for a long time.” (64 Robinson)

Every subject and action is illustrated with moderately, from the boat, to where it’s going, which may seem sluggish on paper as a literature story, but gives the speaker range to build up and control imagery for the listeners in oral syntax. The second aspect I found – which is also in the excerpt above – is how the story is structured to allow emphasis for the story teller, with “And…And…And…” at the beginning of many lines consecutively for example. Once read aloud, the syntax naturally guides the reader to emphasize with a particular rhythm that makes sense with the story.  A similar affect goes for the spacing between lines. Each block of text seems to be a build up of one scene or image of the story when read aloud, and a space indicates a change in scenery which allows time for discussion, reactions from participants or even the story-teller to add their side notes. Which is what I did when reading this story aloud to a family member. Like King says, when we merely read the story’s in our minds, “we lose the voice of the storyteller, the gestures, the music, and the interaction between storyteller and audience” (186 King), but actually reading it aloud and preferably with an audience brings all of these invisible elements to life.

There’s also something to be said about the contents of the story’s themselves. Much of the story can seem repetitive when judged on a literature basis, but again, seems to add dramatic build up and allowance to understand the story better, since words can be misheard or misunderstood in a live story-telling platform. An example of this is the long passages when Coyote is speaking to the King of England and repeatedly questions whether he wants war or not.

Lastly, the story is also very conversational, often seeming like you’re listening to someone have a monologue, filled with rhetorical questions that are answered right after.

“His Name was TOH-MAH./ That’s all the name I know/ I don’t know his second name /Or, his first name/ Maybe his first name, maybe TOH-mah, maybe that was his second name/ Or maybe that was his first name, I don’t know. Only name I know, that was TOH-Mah.” (80-81 Robinson)

I think this type of storytelling provides the storyteller with a natural voice, exactly opposite to what we expect in a structured, written story, this plays well in a live environment as the audience follows the thought process along.

One thought that this question, and the articles have provoked is what does it take to be a good listener? We’ve learned many techniques as to how to be a good story teller, but it takes two to tango, and I feel like much of the burden is placed on the speaker/storyteller most of the time, while the listener plays a more passive role. After doing some digging, this Ted Talk really changed my perspective on the importance of the listener, and how it plays a vital role in effective communication.

Works Cited

Robinson, Harry. Living By Stories – A Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon, 2007. Print.

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

THe Power of Listening | William Ury | TEDxSanDiego. By William Ury. Perf. William Ury. TedXTalks. Youtube, 7 Jan. 2015. Web. 10 Sept. 30.