The Conte: Oral and Written Dynamics

A majority of the chapters in this book were originally presented as papers at a conference held at Queen's University Belfast in September 2006. The volume explores the oral-written dynamic in the ‘conte français/francophone’, focusing on key aspects of the relationship between oral and written forms of the ‘conte’. The chapters fall into four broad thematic areas (the oral-written dynamic in early modern France; literary appropriations and transformations; postcolonial contexts; storytelling in contemporary France: linguistic strategies). Within these broad areas, some chapters deal with sources and influences (such as that of written on oral and vice versa), others with the nature of the discourse resulting from an oral-written dynamic (discourse structure, linguistic features etc.), some with the oral-written interface as it affects the definition of genre, others with the role of the 'oral' within the literary or written text (use of storytelling scenarios, the problematics inherent in transcribing/adapting the spoken word etc.). This chronological and methodological range allows us to situate the emergence of the form in socio-cultural and historical terms, and to open up debate around the role of the ‘conte’ in particular geographical and political contexts: regional, national, European and postcolonial. This book contains contributions in both English and French.