An Outline of “Holistic Poetics”

Abstract In terms of technical approach, holistic poetics takes the Lord-Foley oral-formulaic theory as the main line, and partially absorbs the concepts, tools and models of “ethnopoetics” and “performance theory”; in methodological terms, it borrows Smuts’ concept of “holism” to grasp the whole picture and characteristics of oral literature from the holistic point of view, while at the same time endeavoring to combine the analytical method with the holistic one; and in terms of world view, it starts with historical materialism as the basis for understanding and analyzing the internal and external laws of oral literature. While emphasizing the synchronic method and paying attention to the relationship and interaction between different factors, holistic poetics introduces the dimension of historical development, thus presenting the artistic features and social functions of oral literature from multiple aspects. Compared with the written word and the Internet, “orality” is an information skill that has a long history but always remains new. As it has been dominant for a long time, it is a reasonable starting point for the “holistic view.”