When asked his name, Odysseus always tells a story about himself. In an oral culture, you have to be able to say who your parents are, how much land you got, who you've killed, who you've been conquered by, what gods you have propitiated or outraged. You are this narrative of yourself.
Today's kids, however, have been produced not by an oral culture by a languid aural and visual culture, in which everything is a role, everything provisional, and speech may be an opening to mockery or self-mockery. In an ironic looking-and-listening culture, almost no one can tell his own story. Public speech is not what we care about. In high school, few are asked to memorize poetry; some may never before have read aloud in class.
Today's kids, however, have been produced not by an oral culture by a languid aural and visual culture, in which everything is a role, everything provisional, and speech may be an opening to mockery or self-mockery. In an ironic looking-and-listening culture, almost no one can tell his own story. Public speech is not what we care about. In high school, few are asked to memorize poetry; some may never before have read aloud in class.
No comments:
Post a Comment