The history of mankind is intrinsically linked to the history of narrative, since it is in our very being to communicate, and to produce narratives. In earlier times, people sat around the campfire...Show moreThe history of mankind is intrinsically linked to the history of narrative, since it is in our very being to communicate, and to produce narratives. In earlier times, people sat around the campfire or in the banquet hall to partake in the telling and hearing of stories about the world, about gods and higher powers, about heroes or extraordinary events, and so on. In the late 20th century, this oral tradition made a mainstream resurgence of sorts in western culture, with the rise of the (tabletop) Role Playing Game or ‘TTRPG’. These games, while not exact replications of oral tradition, are heavily reliant on its orality and collaborative storytelling elements, and its gameplay owes much to the narrative features and typescenes of oral tradition, especially medieval oral tradition, since the original TTRPG’s were inspired mainly by the medieval period. While scholars such as Walter J. Ong (Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, 1982) have already discussed oral tradition in detail, its link to the relatively new medium of the TTRPG has yet to be touched upon in scholarship. This thesis will attempt to close this gap to a degree, by investigating to what extent the non-linear narrative structure of the TTRPG Dungeons and Dragons resembles that of medieval oral tradition. First, this thesis will define what exactly constitutes medieval orality, by presenting (among others) Walter J. Ong’s theory pertaining to the “Psychodynamics of Orality,” and illustrating the presence of his characteristics in extant historical sources of medieval oral tradition, such as the Old English Beowulf and the Norse sagas. Second, an overview will be provided of the popular TTRPG Dungeons & Dragons, detailing its content, gameplay mechanics, history, and development. Finally, this thesis will demonstrate the relation between Dungeons & Dragons and medieval orality, by applying Walter J. Ong’s theory on oral characteristics to the TTRPG. In so doing, this thesis will demonstrate that (TT)RPG’s can provide valuable contributions to the scholarly fields wherein the topic is otherwise overlooked.Show less
This study will search for evidence of a transition period from orality to literacy by looking at the corpus of fifty-one manumissions recorded on blank pages and in margins of the Bodmin Gospel...Show moreThis study will search for evidence of a transition period from orality to literacy by looking at the corpus of fifty-one manumissions recorded on blank pages and in margins of the Bodmin Gospel Book. These manumissions documents were all added to the manuscript between the second quarter of the tenth century and the first quarter of the eleventh century, a relatively early date; only three other manumission documents are from earlier dates. The text of the documents will be examined by building on the previous research by Danet and Bogoch. Their research has studied the different means of strengthening the performative potential in Old English wills, along the lines of speech act theory and discourse analysis. This study will do the same but focus on manumissions. The literate practice of vesting written texts with performative power was still developing during the tenth century, which is visible in the Bodmin manumission documents. These documents incorporate both oral and literate elements into their text, which demonstrates that while not fully trusted yet, the written word was slowly gaining ground.Show less
