Anonymity qua absence of the Sample Clauses

Anonymity qua absence of the. ‘author-function’: folk songs as unauthorised songs Folk songs are loosely said to be anonymous by their nature, in opposition to authorial textual traditions. From a different light, anonymity is sometimes understood more specifically as collective authorship, mainly expressed through variants, and in contrast with forms of individual composition.250 Here I want to propose a new interpretative model for the anonymity criterion. I suggest focusing not on contexts of origin and composition – a text is anonymous because it is transmitted without an author’s name, or because it is composed communally – but on the specific modalities in which certain songs are perceived in their own contexts of use and consumption. On this point of view, ‘anonymity’ is not to be seen as a given category attached to texts, but will rather represent a significant implication of the functionalist mode of 247 See Hobsbawn–Ranger 1983. On possible ‘invented traditions’ in ancient Greek culture, see e.g. the historical accounts provided by the sources as regards PMG 848 (Ch. 2) and 868 (Ch. 4). 248 See esp. Cantilena 2012: 159f. 249 From this perspective, even Xxxxxx’s Partheneion 1 (cf. §1.3.2) and the Homeric poems (cf. esp. Cantilena 2012: 158f.) can be considered ‘traditional’. 250 On these two views, see §1.1.2.iii and §1.2.3. perception and reception that I have delineated above (§1.3.2). Firstly, by resorting to, and properly adapting, the Foucauldian notion of ‘author-function’, I shall explain how the anonymity of folk songs depends on the degree to which the category of ‘author’ functions within a given context. In performative contexts where the occasional-functional perspective prevails, the authorising and authenticating functionality of the author’s name – whereby ‘author’ is broadly understood as both the composer and the performer of a song – is not operating. In these cases, knowing who is speaking (the ‘authorial’ voice) is not essential for the purposes of the performance itself. Folk songs are thus anonymous in that they are ‘unauthorised’ songs, and in this specific sense, folk songs truly belong to the various folk groups who share them. After offering a series of specific examples, especially in relation to ancient Greek culture, I shall conclude that such an approach does not exclude elements of communal participation in folksong. Rather, it clarifies that elements such as the variants are a potential consequence of the way folk songs are usually used and per...