FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Contact: Robert Preston, Jr.,
912.260.4276
robert.preston@sgc.edu
Dr. Codrina Cozma: Mediatized literature is part of oral tradition
Many scholars believe that the oral tradition of
literature in the United States is becoming a thing of the past. However,
Dr. Codrina Cozma, Assistant Professor of English and Learning Support at
South Georgia College, believes that the American oral tradition is alive
and well.
In her recently published book, titled “The Power of the Spoken Word:
Literature in the American Broadcasting and Film Industry in the 1990s,” Dr.
Cozma states that taking books and turning them into movies – known as
mediatized literature – is very much in line with the oral tradition of
literature.
Wednesday, Sept. 24, Dr. Cozma discussed her book with community members and
SGC faculty and staff in the William S. Smith Library on the SGC campus. Dr.
Cozma compared the oral tradition to mediatized literature, and drew some
interesting comparisons. “Oral populations create songs, poems and other
performances for social events. When a book is turned into a movie, it is
all about performance. Also, the authorship becomes multiple. Literature of
the oral tradition has a number of authors, just like movies. You have the
author of the book, then the screenwriters, directors, producers, even the
actors,” she said.
The introduction of “Spoken Word” states the following:
“The features that are common to both the oral tradition and the mediatized
literature are discussed based on four variables: authorship, audience,
literary product, and aesthetic implications. To summarize these shared
characteristics, I would like to briefly mention here that both types of
literature, oral and mediatized, share the following characteristics:
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They involve multiple authors who are deeply involved with community
standards;
-
They target mass audiences;
-
They share common inherent features of the literary product – simplified
(linear) and subjective narrative patterns, subjective multiple narrators,
characters that fit social conventions, recurrent tropes such as the
“talking book,” similar components of the linguistic sign, and an
affirmation of dialect and bilingualism;
-
They display production similarities -- they are both performative,
enhance dramatic effects, make use of multimedia, and place special emphasis
on the setting;
-
They exhibit transmission affinities, with a complex play on immediacy and
manipulation;
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They feature similar social functions: sacral, ritualistic, didactic,
political, and of cultural preservation and affirmation;
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And lastly, both the oral and the mediatized literary traditions exercise
a strong impact on written literature."
Dr. Cozma said her argument is unique because many people don’t look at
movies as literature. In fact, she said some writers do not like it when
their books are adapted to film. They feel, she said, that their work is
somehow diminished when adapted to the big screen. But that shouldn’t be the
case, said Dr. Cozma, because movies are very much a part of the American
literary landscape.
“The Power of the Spoken Word: Literature in the American Broadcasting and
Film Industry in the 1990s” is available at many online book retailers,
including
Amazon.com.
CUTLINE: SGC
student Erika Wyatt (right) was one of several students and community
members who participated in the book discussion featuring Dr. Codrina Cozma
(left), held recently in the William S. Smith Library on the SGC campus. Dr.
Cozma, an assistant professor of English, recently published “The Power of
the Spoken Word: Literature in the American Broadcasting and Film Industry
in the 1990s,” in which she states that making movies from books is
consistent with the oral tradition of literature.
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About South Georgia College
South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu)
was founded in 1906 and is a two-year institution in the University System
of Georgia. Located in Douglas, Ga., the college's environment gives
students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close
collaboration with faculty.
