Albert Lord
Encyclopedia
Albert Bates Lord was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of Milman Parry
, carried on that scholar's research into epic
literature.
, Massachusetts
. He attended Harvard College, where he received an A.B. in classics
in 1934 and a Ph.D. in comparative literature
in 1949. He stayed on as a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard in 1950 and became a full professor there in 1958. He also founded Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology, and chaired the college's Department of Folklore and Mythology until his retirement in 1983. His wife, Mary Louise Lord née Carlson, taught classics
at Connecticut College
and bore him two sons, Nathan and Mark. Lord died of natural causes in July, 1991, at Cambridge, Massachusetts
; he was known for his "serenity," "humility," and "generosity."
, first published in 1960. It was reissued in a 40th anniversary edition, with an audio compact disc to aid in the understanding of the recorded renditions discussed in the text. His wife Mary Louise Lord completed and edited his manuscript of a posthumous sequel The Singer Resumes the Tale (published 1995) which further supports and extends Lord's initial conclusions.
He demonstrated the ways in which various great ancient epic
s from Europe and Asia were heirs to a tradition not only of oral performance
, but of oral composition
. He argued strongly for a complete divide between the non-literate authors of the Homer
ic epics and the scribes who later wrote them down, positing that the texts that have been preserved are a transcription by a listener of a single telling of the story. The story itself has no definitive text, but consists of innumerable variants, each improvised by the teller in the act of telling the tale from a mental stockpile of verbal formulas, thematic constructs, and narrative incidents. This improvisation is for the most part unconscious; epic tellers believe that they are faithfully recounting the story as it was handed down to them, even though the actual text of their tellings will differ substantially from day to day and from teller to teller.
Lord studied not only field recordings of Serbian heroic epics sung to the gusle
, and the Homeric epics, but also Beowulf
, Gilgamesh
, The Song of Roland
, and the Anglo-Scottish Child Ballads
. Across these many story traditions he found strong commonalities concerning the oral composition of traditional storytelling
.
Milman Parry
Milman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...
, carried on that scholar's research into epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
literature.
Personal life
Lord was born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. He attended Harvard College, where he received an A.B. in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
in 1934 and a Ph.D. in comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
in 1949. He stayed on as a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard in 1950 and became a full professor there in 1958. He also founded Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology, and chaired the college's Department of Folklore and Mythology until his retirement in 1983. His wife, Mary Louise Lord née Carlson, taught classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
and bore him two sons, Nathan and Mark. Lord died of natural causes in July, 1991, at Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
; he was known for his "serenity," "humility," and "generosity."
Work
Lord authored the book The Singer of TalesThe Singer of Tales
The Singer of Tales is a book by Albert Lord that discusses the oral tradition as a theory of literary composition and its applications to Homeric and medieval epic. It was published in 1960.-Summary:The book is divided into two parts...
, first published in 1960. It was reissued in a 40th anniversary edition, with an audio compact disc to aid in the understanding of the recorded renditions discussed in the text. His wife Mary Louise Lord completed and edited his manuscript of a posthumous sequel The Singer Resumes the Tale (published 1995) which further supports and extends Lord's initial conclusions.
He demonstrated the ways in which various great ancient epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
s from Europe and Asia were heirs to a tradition not only of oral performance
Oral literature
Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...
, but of oral composition
Oral-Formulaic Composition
The theory of oral-formulaic composition originated in the scholarly study of epic poetry, being developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century...
. He argued strongly for a complete divide between the non-literate authors of the Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
ic epics and the scribes who later wrote them down, positing that the texts that have been preserved are a transcription by a listener of a single telling of the story. The story itself has no definitive text, but consists of innumerable variants, each improvised by the teller in the act of telling the tale from a mental stockpile of verbal formulas, thematic constructs, and narrative incidents. This improvisation is for the most part unconscious; epic tellers believe that they are faithfully recounting the story as it was handed down to them, even though the actual text of their tellings will differ substantially from day to day and from teller to teller.
Lord studied not only field recordings of Serbian heroic epics sung to the gusle
Gusle
The Gusle is a single-stringed musical instrument traditionally used in the Dinarides region of the Balkans ....
, and the Homeric epics, but also Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
, Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
, The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...
, and the Anglo-Scottish Child Ballads
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
. Across these many story traditions he found strong commonalities concerning the oral composition of traditional storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
.
Awards and Distinctions
-
- 1940 - Junior Fellow - Harvard Society of Fellows
- 1949 - Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1956 - Fellow - American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1959 - Honorary Curator - Milman ParryMilman ParryMilman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...
Collection - Widener LibraryWidener LibraryThe Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, commonly known as Widener Library, is the primary building of the library system of Harvard University. Located on the south side of Harvard Yard directly across from Memorial Church, Widener serves as the centerpiece of the 15.6 million-volume Harvard...
- Harvard College - 1969 - Fellow - American Folklore Society
- 1972 - Becomes the Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature - Harvard University
- 1988 - Recipient of the Yugoslav Star - Yugoslav Consulate
- 1990 - Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Novi SadUniversity of Novi SadThe University of Novi Sad is a university located in Novi Sad, the capital of Serbian province of Vojvodina and the second largest city in Serbia....
By Lord
- Albert B. Lord, Beginning Serbocroatian (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1958).
- Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1960).
- Albert B. Lord, Epic Singers and Oral Tradition (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press, 1991).
- Albert B. Lord, "Oral Composition and 'Oral Residue' in the Middle Ages", in Oral Tradition in the Middle Ages, ed. W. F. H. Nicolaisen (Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1995), pp. 7–29.
On Lord
- John Miles Foley, "Albert Bates Lord (1912-1991): An Obituary," in Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992), pp. 57–65.
- "Albert Bates Lord, 78, Scholar of Folk Tales," New York Times, August 3, 1991.