Lunchtime Lectures with James MacDonald Reid
Join us at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 26th September for our lunchtime lecture with James MacDonald Reid as we delve into the historical and cultural background of storytelling.
About Lunchtime Lectures with James MacDonald Reid
A series of lunchtime lectures delving into the historical and cultural background of storytelling. Discover the link between Scottish and Eastern European Folktales, the importance of the Traveller communities and traditions, and learn about some of storytelling’s major collectors as well as their importance to Scotland and the world of international traditional narrative.
Soup provided too, so come along and feed the body and the soul.
James MacDonald Reid heard Scottish traditional tales in his childhood from family and neighbours. From his late teens into his mid-twenties he travelled around the Balkans and central Europe, staying in isolated villages with a living folk culture, for the primary purpose of learning their local bagpipes. In these communities he also heard folk tales and legends recited in an age-old manner uninfluenced by modern media. He noted how similar these tales were to the Scottish folklore he had grown up with; particularly the delivery. In later years he returned to these communities - in Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Belarus and Georgia - to conduct a study on how folktales are recited in a living traditional folk culture. He found that many conventions were universal to all, not only in the delivery of the narrative but in the way people listened to the stories. As these conventions evolved naturally over countless generations, he felt it worthwhile addressing the reasons behind them and what we can learn from them today.
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