vw - congratulations!!

good job, VW!

and I read what you put up - and without coffee I decided that 1) shared authority does not mean something isnt literature - there are two many ways to poke at that theory. 2) but what you did was say - ok, let's pretend this is true - here is how you covered it - record , review, correct, and write. So that the story is as close to authentic as it can be when going from oral to written. this gives it the voice of one authority

I don't really know how he is defining literature - but I am guessing this shared authority idea means folk ales/fairy tales - and other early stuff like beowolf can't be lit. nor translations, nor and co-authored stuff. I think the theory is flawed. and without coffee I can't see another side

ok - if shared authority is an oral history term I get it less.

Oral history can have more than one authority , because , for example , the story of great grandma and the bear has the origianl teller of the tale and then i becomes that story that everyone tells long after great grandma is gone so that is the shared authority?

It's more about collaboration.That's its point....sharing the authority. I think. I hope!

Yeah, I'm sure it must be more thought-out than seems immediately obvious -- he's presumably a smart person, after all -- but it does seem a little confusing.

Or is the problem that oral narrative, in its original form (that is, oral), has no official, authoritative form in the same way that something that's written down does, and therefore isn't literature until it's recorded?

Congratulations vw!

I really, really want breakfast, but I forgot that the new card I got in the mail yesterday hasn't been activated so I can't just run downstairs and get a burrito. I have to drive to the bank (and probably get gas) activate the card, come back, go down to the caf to get a burrito.

WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD!?!

I'm so glad Dylan is feeling better.

Yay, vw! That is such an amazing accomplishment. I remember when you were out here last year for that conference and met that Huge Important Researcher, and what a jolt of brainiac joy it gave you to have him get all excited about your thesis and tell you not to let his research stop you. (Also, I'm completely in awe of you, and everyone who's done a serious research thesis--I did a creative thesis because the research would have killed me.)

Matilda is on my lap now; she was completely riveted by all the pictures of Cooper, even the first one--she pointed at his fat little toes and said solemnly, "Bay. Bee."

Laga's sister's asshat has been begging for a SPLORCH*squeeky* for quite a while now. What a nasty, vindictive fuckwad (and, really, what does he have to be vindictive about? Is he bitter that her willingness to devastate the entire rest of her life to accommodate his assholishness finally had a limit? Well, fuck him).

Or is the problem that oral narrative, in its original form (that is, oral), has no official, authoritative form in the same way that something that's written down does, and therefore isn't literature until it's recorded?

That was the conclusion I was coming to ...

From what I can tell, his essays and work came about because oral historians (and historians) were taking people's stories and claiming them as their own and also making changes to the transcripts that changed meaning, without talking to the narrator. Then Frisch comes along and says, "That's not ok! We need to be collaborating with our narrators, working towards a shared authority."

Does that make more sense?

IOThesisN, I just sent the final version to my proofreader! The best part of this? I have NOTHING planned this weekend, because I blocked it all off to work on my thesis. And now, I don't have to work on my thesis. I can do fun things! I plan to quilt and crochet and do fun writing and clean my apartment! I'm also going to think about all of my fellow seminarians who are not as prepared as I am and laugh and laugh at their panic (on the inside, of course) while I am having a blissful, quiet weekend.

Lastly, I've started writing letters to the people who are getting copies of the thesis (and some who are just getting a link to the online version) because they somehow influenced me or the project (so, my grandmother, past teachers, my treatment team). It's really fun! "Hi! I haven't spoken to you in 20 years, but you influenced my senior thesis and have a cameo appearance! Here enjoy reading!"

Did I say YAY VW!!! yet, or just think it? Sometimes I forget that reacting to posts only in my head doesn't actually work.

she pointed at his fat little toes and said solemnly, "Bay. Bee."

She's a sharp one!