Sunday, July 02, 2023
Oral Tradition
P.G. Naiditch, Problems in the Life and Writings of A.E. Housman (Beverly Hills: Krown & Spellman, 1995), p. 35:
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Oral tradition has a fine sound to it. It seems to promise knowledge new and true, delicate and important. Occasionally, it is as good as its promise. But, in essence, oral tradition is not in itself superior to a written account. The format of a story does not guarantee its truth. Plainly, oral or written, published or unpublished, the tale is the product of men, and men are fallible. Obviously, then, it becomes men, who also are historians or biographers, to scrutinise their data narrowly and to evaluate it with suspicious care. It is no part of their business to rake it into their house unsorted.
