Structures in Composition
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To the ISSOT community: I am currently working on a project concerning the structural "center" or "middle" of Homer's Odyssey, and I am particularly interested in how traditional singers and poets from across traditions conceive of (if at all) the structural center or middle of their compositions. Is the middle simply a space between a finely constructed beginning and end (a la ring composition), or is the center a guided destination in a larger chiastic structure? Moreover, do performers actively plan for reaching a center point and "backtracking" their way out, allowing for a reflective symmetry between items? These are all abstract and broad queries, but they aim at elucidating the compositional strategies of a variety of performance constructions - I would love to get the perspective of scholars and performers and I would be glad to share my own thoughts on this too. I have my own insights from archaic Greek poetics and Foley's work, but I'm excited to get a comparative perspective on this. And, perhaps we can let this be an initiation to larger conversations on this forum as well! Cheers, Justin |