The Interface of Orality and Writing: Speaking, Seeing, Writing in the Shaping of New Genres

Volume 11 in the Biblical Perfromance Criticism Series

Weissenrieder, Annette and Robert B. Coote, editors

How did the visual, the oral, and the written interrelate in antiquity? The essays in this collection address the competing and complementary roles of visual media, forms of memory, oral performance, and literacy and popular culture in the ancient Mediterranean world. Incorporating both customary and innovative perspectives, the essays advance the frontiers of our understanding of the nature of ancient texts as regards audibility and performance, the vital importance of the visual in the comprehension of texts, and basic concepts of communication, particularly the need to account for disjunctive and non-reciprocal social relations in communication. Thus the contributions show how the investigation of the interface of the oral and written, across the spectrum of seeing, hearing, and writing, generates new concepts of media and mediation.

From the RBL review by Brandon Walker: Each chapter presents a contribution to the interface between orality, writing, and visual media. . .  The book is divided into four sections: (1) “Introduction: Speaking, Seeing, Writing in the Shaping of New Genres”; (2) “Speaking in the Shaping of New Genres”; (3) “Seeing in the Shaping of New Genres”; and (4) “Writing in the Shaping of New Genres.” . . . It is unique in that it presents a more holistic perspective than just oral performance or written texts. Many of the chapters note that both mediums played an important role in antiquity, not the binaries of orality or writing. [Itallics mine] 

Walker concludes: Overall, this book is a welcome contribution to the field of biblical performance criticism. It contains diverse content that spans the spectrum of media and ancient content. It also opens the door for further opportunities of research.