Annotated Bibliography of Works by John Miles Foley
- Annotated Bibliography of Works by John Miles Foley
In 1985 John Miles Foley authored as his first book-length work Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. This volume, which provided an introduction to the field of study and over 1800 annotated entries, was later supplemented by updates published in Oral Tradition (and compiled by John himself, Lee Edgar Tyler, Juris Dilevko, and Catherine S. Quick [with the assistance of Patrick Gonder, Sarah Feeny, Amerina Engel, Sheril Hook, and Rosalinda Villalobos Lopez]) that served both to summarize and to provide reflection upon new developments in an area of scholarship that eventually became too vast and broadly evolved to be contained by any single bibliographic venture. Given that John’s own work was instrumental in effecting this sustained development—while also having importance in so many other areas of study as well—it seems only fitting to close the current volume with an annotated bibliography of John’s works up through the current point in time.
In compiling this vast bibliography (which includes entries for nearly 200 essays, books, and other types of scholarly contributions), I have attempted to adhere to John’s own practice of providing full citations followed by a few sentences that summarize each item’s contents and its significance within the larger body of scholarship on oral traditions (or in some cases, within other fields as well). Additionally, I have continued his methodology of not annotating reviews of other scholars’ books unless those discussions themselves directly contributed to ongoing discourse in the field. Variations among entries with respect to capitalization or terminology are meant to reflect the specific usages within the annotated works themselves. For those works that have previously appeared in one of the bibliographies listed above, I have here reproduced those earlier versions without alteration (except for matters of style) and with much thanks to their original authors.
“Christ 164–213: A Structural Approach to the Speech Boundaries.” Neophilologus, 59:114–18.
Presents evidence for the assignment of speech boundaries in Lyric VII (“Passus”) on the basis of verbal echo, which is shown to be an important feature of the poem’s composition.
Argues for the tradition-dependence of both formula and theme, that is, for their individual Old English character as well as cross-traditional features. A computer analysis of the meter of Beowulf reveals a level of metrical formularity which assists in selecting phraseological patterns. Themes take the tradition-dependent form of groups of repeated stressed morphs, again the result of a metrical scheme much different from those of Greek and Yugoslav oral epic. After redefinitions of formula and theme that suit both Old English and comparative oral tradition, the essay considers the aesthetic implications of such structures, contending that echoes proceed not from one occurrence to the next but along the lengthy traditional axis of the poetry as a whole, with traditional knowledge providing a sounding-board for each instance. Under this poetic aegis, “usefulness and aesthetics need no longer preclude one another’s existence; they merge in the ritual unity of traditional art” (232).
After providing a new edition for Riddle I, argues that the riddle’s common solution “storm” is actually only the metaphor (involving the poet’s vision of the Apocalypse) by which the real tripartite solution of God, Christ, and the Cross can be obtained.
A review of the two volumes (one focused on English translation and contextualization, and the other dedicated to the presentation of the poem in the original language), with emphasis on their value for the study of comparative...
