{"id":1785,"date":"2021-01-02T07:12:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T13:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=1785"},"modified":"2023-05-01T20:39:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T01:39:56","slug":"why-the-history-of-narration-matters-part-3-narrations-rebirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2021\/01\/02\/why-the-history-of-narration-matters-part-3-narrations-rebirth\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the History of Narration Matters, Part 3: Narration’s Rebirth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In my previous two articles I framed my discussion of the history of narration with the controversy between Charlotte Mason and classical Christian education advocates<\/a>. I suggested that narration\u2019s history may be a fact that puts to rest the false dichotomies of either side. While Charlotte Mason did claim discovery of certain principles related to the nature of mind, narration<\/a> itself is one of the many things she owes to the tradition. As she said of her philosophy and methods, \u201cSome of it is new, much of it is old.\u201d (Toward a Philosophy of Education<\/em>; Wilder, 2008; 29)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Quintilian\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we saw, narration has its roots in the classical era<\/a> with rhetorical teachers like Aelius Theon and Quintilian, where its goals included the development of memory, fluency and style for future orators. It was particularly powerful as a practice because it fused the natural oral story-telling of pre-literate cultures with the refinements of classical Greek and Roman rhetoric. Before moving to the rebirth of narration in the Renaissance<\/a> and early modern era, I have to admit to an unfortunate gap in my own knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot claim to know that narration was absent from medieval pedagogy. In fact, I suspect that it was not. But I have not (as yet) found any direct evidence of it. There are undoubtedly more places to look than I have had the opportunity of doing so to date. So I would encourage any interested readers to keep an eye out and let me know if you find mention of any narration-like practices occurring in the Middle Ages. However, for the purposes of this series I will have to temporarily conclude that, like much of the tradition of classical rhetoric, narration went into dormancy during the Middle Ages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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