John Miles Foley
Encyclopedia
John Miles Foley Is a scholar of comparative oral tradition
, medieval and Old English Literature (particularly Beowulf
), Ancient Greek
(especially Homer
) and Serbian
epic
. He is the founder of the academic journal Oral Tradition
and the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri
, where he is Curators' Professor of Classical Studies and English and W. H. Byler Endowed Chair in the Humanities. Foley is generally regarded as the world’s foremost authority on the subject of comparative oral traditions
In addition to providing the infrastructure for the comparatively new academic discipline of oral tradition
by means of organizing conferences, producing the first bibliography, history and methodological guide and classroom textbook on the subject, his principal contributions have been the study of oral traditional performance in the field, and the application of those observations both to ancient texts and to the emerging secondary orality
of the Internet
.
He teaches in the departments of Classical Studies (of which he was chair from 1996–1999), including both literature and language, English ( Anglo-Saxon language and Beowulf) , and German and Russian Studies (Slavic languages and literature). http://classics.missouri.edu/people/foley.shtml Additionally, he has been an adjunct professor of Anthropology
since 1992.
Foley is also founding Director of the Center for eResearch, which fosters cross-disciplinary internet-related research, http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/22ii/authors. He has written or edited twenty books, and authored upwards of 160 scholarly articles.Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries did a retrospective of his work in 2001 Additionally, he edits two series of books (Lord Studies in Oral Tradition, at Garland, and Voices in Performance and Text, at the University of Illinois Press)http://classics.missouri.edu/people/foley.shtml
. He received his bachelor’s degree at Colgate University
in 1969, with majors in Physics
, Mathematics
and Chemistry
. He completed his Masters degree in English Literature
at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1971 before completing the PhD
there in English and Comparative Literature
(1974). Following his doctoral studies, Foley did fieldwork in what was then Yugoslavia
, confirming and extending the earlier researches of Milman Parry
and Albert Lord
in living oral traditions; based on this fieldwork, he would continue the work of Francis P. Magoun in applying the findings to other ethnolinguistic areas, as well as providing further articulation for the theory of Oral-Formulaic Composition
.
After receiving the doctorate, Foley was assistant professor of English at Emory University
until 1979, when he became associate professor at the University of Missouri
, where he has remained (full professor, 1983), except for stints as visiting professor at the University of Belgrade
(1980) and visiting fellow at Harvard University
(1976–1977, 1980–1981). He directed summer institutes for teachers for the National Endowment for the Humanities
in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994.
He has given more than 250 invited lectures throughout the United States as well as in China
, India
, Russia
, Mongolia
, Japan
, throughout Africa
and Europe
, and the United States
. http://journal.oraltradition.org/authors/show/268
Foley has been awarded grants and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies
, the Guggenheim Foundation
, the National Endowment for the Humanities
, the Fulbright Program, the Mellon Foundation, and other institutions, and is a fellow of the Finnish Folklore Society and the American Folklore Society
.
Foley is presently the Academic Director for the Oral Traditions program at The Graduate Institute
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
, medieval and Old English Literature (particularly Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
), Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
(especially Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
) and Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
. He is the founder of the academic journal Oral Tradition
Oral Tradition Journal
Oral Tradition is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1986 by John Miles Foley covering studies in oral tradition and related fields...
and the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
, where he is Curators' Professor of Classical Studies and English and W. H. Byler Endowed Chair in the Humanities. Foley is generally regarded as the world’s foremost authority on the subject of comparative oral traditions
In addition to providing the infrastructure for the comparatively new academic discipline of oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
by means of organizing conferences, producing the first bibliography, history and methodological guide and classroom textbook on the subject, his principal contributions have been the study of oral traditional performance in the field, and the application of those observations both to ancient texts and to the emerging secondary orality
Secondary orality
In his book Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, published in 1982 , Walter J. Ong works with the contrast between oral and literate cultures. In this book, he used the phrase ‘secondary orality’, describing it as “essentially a more deliberate and self-conscious orality, based...
of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
He teaches in the departments of Classical Studies (of which he was chair from 1996–1999), including both literature and language, English ( Anglo-Saxon language and Beowulf) , and German and Russian Studies (Slavic languages and literature). http://classics.missouri.edu/people/foley.shtml Additionally, he has been an adjunct professor of Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
since 1992.
Foley is also founding Director of the Center for eResearch, which fosters cross-disciplinary internet-related research, http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/22ii/authors. He has written or edited twenty books, and authored upwards of 160 scholarly articles.Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries did a retrospective of his work in 2001 Additionally, he edits two series of books (Lord Studies in Oral Tradition, at Garland, and Voices in Performance and Text, at the University of Illinois Press)http://classics.missouri.edu/people/foley.shtml
Education and career
Foley was born January 22, 1947, in Northampton, MassachusettsNorthampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
. He received his bachelor’s degree at Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
in 1969, with majors in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. He completed his Masters degree in English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1971 before completing the PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
there in English and Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
(1974). Following his doctoral studies, Foley did fieldwork in what was then Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, confirming and extending the earlier researches of Milman Parry
Milman Parry
Milman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...
and Albert Lord
Albert Lord
Albert Bates Lord was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of Milman Parry, carried on that scholar's research into epic literature.-Personal life:...
in living oral traditions; based on this fieldwork, he would continue the work of Francis P. Magoun in applying the findings to other ethnolinguistic areas, as well as providing further articulation for the theory of Oral-Formulaic Composition
Oral-Formulaic Composition
The theory of oral-formulaic composition originated in the scholarly study of epic poetry, being developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century...
.
After receiving the doctorate, Foley was assistant professor of English at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
until 1979, when he became associate professor at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
, where he has remained (full professor, 1983), except for stints as visiting professor at the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
(1980) and visiting fellow at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(1976–1977, 1980–1981). He directed summer institutes for teachers for the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994.
He has given more than 250 invited lectures throughout the United States as well as in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, throughout Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. http://journal.oraltradition.org/authors/show/268
Foley has been awarded grants and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
, the Guggenheim Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
, the Fulbright Program, the Mellon Foundation, and other institutions, and is a fellow of the Finnish Folklore Society and the American Folklore Society
American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...
.
Foley is presently the Academic Director for the Oral Traditions program at The Graduate Institute
Select bibliography
- Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. New York, 1985.
- The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology. Bloomington, 1988 Rpt. 1992.
- Traditional Oral Epic: The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Serbo-Croatian Return Song. Berkeley, 1990 Rpt. 1993.
- Immanent Art: From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic. Bloomington,1991
- The Singer of Tales in Performance. Bloomington, 1995
- (ed.) Teaching Oral Traditions. New York, 1988
- Homer’s Traditional Art. PennState 1999.
- How To Read an Oral Poem. Illinois, (2002) (complemented by the website)
- an edition-translation of The Wedding of Mustajbey’s Son Bećirbey (eEdition)
- A Companion to Ancient Epic. Blackwell, 2005