Abstract
T IS A CURIOUS FACT of contemporary literary studies that very different branches of literary theory have converged on same insight: every telling is a retelling. In studies of folklore and oral epic it is agreed that content, form, and performance patterns of any given song or tale all belong to established traditions that teller or singer inherits and in turn passes on to succeeding tellers or singers. Albert Lord, following Milman Parry, framer of theory of oral composition of epics such as Iliad, Beowulf, and La Chanson de Roland, has summarized succinctly, the picture that emerges is not really one of conflict between preserver of tradition and creative artist; it is rather one of preservation of tradition by constant re-creation of it. The ideal is a true story well and truly retold (Lord 29, cf. 99 ff.). Every creation is a re-creation.
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