What happens when oral texts are removed from their original medium and written down?

The present collection examines the complex interrelationship between the oral and the written and the problems of textualisation. Taking their point of departure in the theories of orality and literalisation as well as the preserved texts and their transmission the individual contributers, experts from the fields of Old Norse, Old English, Latin and Homeric studies as well as from later Serbian and Norwegian folklore, set out to explore the commonalities and differences in the process of literalisation.

Pressen skrev
"Für Skandinavisten ist das Buch eine facettenreiche Einführung in die Wechselwirkung zweier Traditionen und beeindruckt durch die rege Forschungsarbeit einer Wissenschaftselite, welche überwiegend einer angloskandinavischen Schule entstammt. Besonders die methodische Sorgfalt der verschiedenen Forschungsansätze bietet Anfängern wie fortgeschrittenen Mediävisten gleichermaßen ein gutes Exempel wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens. Ferner wird ein Überblick gewährleistet, der die wichtigsten Vertreter und Forschungsprojekte zu oralen Traditionen in der europäischen Mittelalterforschung präsentiert. Die Verbindung der Aufzeichnung moderner Überlieferung unterschiedlicher Kulturkreise mit der Tradierung mittelalterlicher nordischer Texte, die zweifelsohne durch die römische Schreibtradition geprägt wurden, bietet in diesem Buch einen einzigartigen Einblick in die europäische Praxis der mündlichen Informationsvermittlung und schafft ein Bewußtsein für die bisweilen gravierenden Unterschiede."
- Björn Kozempel, norrøna - Zeitschrift für Kultur, Geschichte und Politik der nordischen Länder 41, 2008.

"Det er ny forskning på kjernetekster [for eksempel Gísli saga, Njáls saga, Voluspá, Draumskvæde og Beowulf] vi har med å gjøre i boka, og forholdet mellom muntlighet og skriftlighet viser sig å være en svært fruktbar innfallsvinkel til problemstillinger i og omkring disse tekstene. For artiklene tilfører vigtig og helt ny forskning på sentrale tekster, og forteller at det finnes uprøvde tilnærminger som kan åpne opp fastlåste problemstillinger og i det minste tilføre gode alternative forklaringer til de eksisterende. ... Det er nybrottsarbeid å gå opp denne veien slik forfatterne i Oral Art Forms and their Passage into Writing gjør, og boka representerer et vigtig bidrag til den internasjonale middelalderforskningen fra et nordisk miljø som befinner sig i forskningsfronten. ... Et godt, solid forskningsarbeid som Oral Art Forms and their Passage into Writing har sin soleklare og nødvendige plass fordi det representerer nye innsikter i hvordan viktige tekster i vår kultur har blitt til, og i muntlige kulturers kunstformer."
- Bente Velle Hellang, edda 2-2008.

"One of the ways in which literary scholarship has been energized during the past fifty years is through fieldwork investigating how oral art forms function in traditional societies. Another way has been through research into the residual impression of oral art forms in literature that is preserved in script or print. Oral Art Forms and their Passage into Writing carries the second of these discussions into new ground, highlighting many points of interest as it does so. ... a book that meets high scolarly standards thoughout. It seems to be almost free from typographical errors - a sign of the editorial care with which it was produced. Physically it is printed clearly on good paper in a volume that is well bound. In all these respects it compares favorably with equivalent books now being produced by British and North American university presses, sometimes at a higher price though not often with equal quality. The two co-editors and the Museum Tusculanum Press (of the University of Copenhagen) are to be congratulated for having produced a fine critical anthology, one that should stimulate much thought about the protean processes by which oral art forms and literary cultures intersect."
- John D. Niles, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, July 2009.

"All the papers in this collection show an awareness of the difficulties in fully understanding the possible oral forms of surviving medieval written texts. ... This volume is thus an important collection which will provide the springboard for future comparative work on medieval literatures."
- Chris Callow, Early Medieval Europe 2010 18 (4).