Storytelling

Hatzi-Yavrouda of Kos, an Exceptional Storyteller

Lecture at the Swedish Research Institute,

by Birgit Olsen, Danish Institute in Athens

This talk is the first in a series of talks at the Swedish Research Institute on the theme of storytelling.

The female storyteller Hatzi-Yavrouda lived on Kos in the beginning of the 20th century, and she was one of the local collector Iakovos Zarraftis’s informants. Her tales are long and complex and show inspiration from both oral and written tradition. By analysing in detail some of her tales, the aim of this lecture is to show how Hatzi-Yavrouda not only fits the picture of a gifted narrator but is an exceptionally gifted one. On an overall level we shall look into the composition of her tales – their structure and the various elements of raw material the narrator uses to make them longer and more interesting. On a detailed level we shall notice some of Hatzi-Yavrouda’s characteristic linguistic and stylistic features as well as her personal views that pervade the tales. Finally we shall study her tales’ relation to the surrounding reality.