Variation in Oral Narrative Performance: A Pacific Example

Abstract

As a result of the work of Parry and Lord, oral narrative style has often been explained in terms of the constraints imposed by oral methods of composition, with both the meanings of the narrative and the informal elements of performance tending to be overlooked. This paper explores oral narrative performance in the Borneo Dayak community of Gerai to argue that meaning and informal performance elements can be key to narrative style. Two types of "great" narrative are found in Gerai, and they have highly contrastive performance styles. The differences in style are linked to the promotion of two different, and competing, styles of masculinity in the community, a point that becomes clear only when we consider informal performance elements.