The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths Through Telling Stories

217 Pages·2011·0.67 MB·English

by  Amy E. Spaulding

The Art of Storytelling
Telling Truths through
Telling Stories
Amy E. Spaulding
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2011
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb ii 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2011 by Amy E. Spaulding
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spaulding, Amy E., 1944–
The art of storytelling : telling truths through telling stories / Amy E. Spaulding.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-7776-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7777-1
(ebook)
1. Storytelling. I. Title.
LB1042.S675 2011
372.67'7—dc22 2010039697
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iiii 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
To all the storytellers and students
who have taught me so much,
and to those of the future,
including you.
Good-bye, and thanks, to both Norman Horrocks, who introduced me
to library school and later to Scarecrow Press, and Augusta Baker, who
introduced me to storytelling at the New York Public Library, and in
whose honor I chose the storyteller for the cover. Augusta loved owls,
and this Zuni storyteller from about 1900 is quite rare in portraying a
storyteller as other than human.
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iiiiii 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
Truth nor story can be written in stone;
each dies when petrified.
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iivv 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
Contents
Part I: Telling Truth, Telling Stories
1 Teaching Storytelling and Teaching through Storytelling 3
2 Welcome and Congratulations 7
3 Celebrate the Joy of Storytelling 13
Part II: How to Become a Storyteller
4 A Living Art: How Does One Learn Stories?
It Is Worth the Effort 25
5 Types of Stories 35
6 Selecting a Story, and Version, to Tell 43
7 Building a Program 55
8 Performance Issues 69
9 Interacting with the Audience 75
10 The Business of Storytelling 81
Part III: Why Bother Learning and Telling Stories?
11 Storytelling versus Storycrafting: Traditional versus
Current Forms 91
12 The Ethics and Psychology of Storytelling 101
v
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vv 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
vi CONTENTS
13 The Energy of Storytelling 109
14 Storytelling in Times of Anxiety and Change 116
15 The Storyteller’s Responsibility to the Audience:
Choosing Stories You Trust 124
Part IV: Farewell
16 Storytelling Values, the Value of Storytelling 133
Appendix A: Storiography 139
Appendix B: Story Collections 179
Appendix C: W ebliography—Web Sites Useful to
Storytellers and Students 189
Selected Bibliography 195
Index 203
About the Author 209
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vvii 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
Part I
TELLING TRUTH, TELLING STORIES
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb 11 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb 22 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM
CHAPTER 1
Teaching Storytelling and
Teaching through Storytelling
The technique of any art is sometimes apt to dampen, as it were, the
spark of inspiration in a mediocre artist; but the same technique in
the hands of a master can fan that spark into an unquenchable flame.
—Joseph Jasser1
Jasser’s warning can be accurate—but what does it mean to a teacher of
the art of storytelling? How do you know your students and their abili-
ties before experiencing their talent? I remember well how my profes-
sor father quelled any hope I ever had of daring to write by criticizing
my grammar. He meant well, and he was accurate in his assessment,
but it made me very anxious, so that writing still requires an act of will.
That same man also told me wonderful stories at bedtime; he dismissed
his teaching role and had fun. Now I can talk a blue streak, but putting
words on paper still scares me. My experience of one was that of an
intellectual lesson and the other as a gift, which begs the question: how
do you teach an art? How do you offer helpful advice that will assist
artists to grow without dampening their enthusiasm?
All you can do is care, hope for the best, and ask each person to take
responsibility for his or her own learning. As my tai chi teacher says,
“You cannot teach by humiliation. You can dominate or indoctrinate,
but you cannot stimulate growth. That, as with plants, takes sun and
water and time alone in the dark.”2 This is very similar to what hap-
pens when you tell stories: although you don’t know how they will be
interpreted, you do know that occasionally you will be surprised by the
response.
3
1100__662266__SSppaauullddiinngg__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb 33 1122//1155//1100 33::2288 PPMM