Crash Course: The Origins of Storytelling

Hello friends! It’s another crash course in Oral History. This time were digging into the different shapes, types, and forms of live storytelling.

Art by Grace Walters

By Grace Walters

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Creation myths, legends, and campfire stories. Most of us know some form of creation myth, whether it involves a wolf chasing the sun, the sea and the earth falling in love, or a god who sculpts land like clay. These stories are some of the earliest forms of shared narrative. Some of these stories existed to explain the natural world, and some were simply entertainment. Characters like Brer Rabbit, Paul Bunyan, and Anansi populated some of these tales.

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Did you know that at least 17 cultures across the globe have their own versions of Cinderella? In Europe alone there were 500 versions of the story recorded. The version that many of us know now, is heavily influenced by Disney. It is easy to forget that the Brothers Grimm were not storytellers, but oral historians. The work that they did was in travelling across Europe and collecting the stories being told in various regions. Characters like Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, and Jack (of beanstalk fame) came from these fairytales that were passed on orally until eventually they were recorded.

Personal Narrative

And finally, we come to may be the most recent iteration of oral storytelling, the personal narrative. Largely pioneered by The Moth in New York, this newer genre highlights the experiences of individuals. This focus on personal experience and living truth is an interesting iteration in the history of oral storytelling. In both fairytales and folklore, the narrator rarely places themselves in the story. However, in the personal narrative, the storyteller is actively inviting the audience into their own experience, and this necessitates a more first-person style of storytelling. Shows like Story Jam have enjoyed furthering this new iteration of live narrative and we believe the personal narrative—or “live lit”—a form of telling will be around for a very long time.