{"product_id":"webspinner-songs-stories-and-reflections-of-duncan-williamson-scottish-traveller-paperback","title":"Webspinner: Songs, Stories, and Reflections of Duncan Williamson, Scottish Traveller - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJohn D. Niles\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eHelen Beccard Niles\u003c\/b\u003e (Contribution by), \u003cb\u003eAlan Niles\u003c\/b\u003e (Contribution by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1928 in a tent on the shore of Loch Fyne, Argyll, Duncan Williamson (d. 2007) eventually came to be recognized as one of the foremost storytellers in Scotland and the world. \u003ci\u003eWebspinner: Songs, Stories, and Reflections of Duncan Williamson, Scottish Traveller\u003c\/i\u003e is based on more than a hundred hours of tape-recorded interviews undertaken with him in the 1980s. Williamson tells of his birth and upbringing in the west of Scotland, his family background as one of Scotland's seminomadic travelling people, his varied work experiences after setting out from home at about age fifteen, and the challenges he later faced while raising a family of his own, living on the road for half the year. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The recordings on which the book is based were made by John D. Niles, who was then an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Niles has transcribed selections from his field tapes with scrupulous accuracy, arranging them alongside commentary, photos, and other scholarly aids, making this priceless self-portrait of a brilliant storyteller available to the public. The result is a delight to read. It is also a mine of information concerning a vanished way of life and the place of singing and storytelling in Traveller culture. In chapters that feature many colorful anecdotes and that mirror the spontaneity of oral delivery, readers learn much about how Williamson and other members of his persecuted minority had the resourcefulness to make a living on the outskirts of society, owning very little in the way of material goods but sustained by a rich oral heritage.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn D. Niles\u003c\/b\u003e is author of \u003ci\u003eHomo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature\u003c\/i\u003e and a number of other books relating to early medieval literature and the theory and practice of oral narrative. Before his retirement in 2011, he taught at Brandeis University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was the Frederic G. Cassidy Professor of Humanities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 360\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 20, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47590149587197,"sku":"9781496841582","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/3414\/0157\/files\/bjJDYy9ramFWM3dDd0ZTNDBuVEFjdz09.webp?v=1779954783","url":"https:\/\/booktolia.com\/products\/webspinner-songs-stories-and-reflections-of-duncan-williamson-scottish-traveller-paperback","provider":"booktolia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}