When words become voice: intermedial storytelling and identity in the Georgian folk tale master and pupil

Abstract

This article closely examines the Georgian folk tale Master and Pupil, focusing on the intermedial transformation of its sequential narrative structure as an instance of oral storytelling. The tale is analyzed within the broader discourses of performativity, voice, and narrative subjectivity through the lenses of performance theory, media formalism, and the Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) classification system (Type 325). The study reveals a transition in the tale from silence to vocal authority; here, voice functions not only as a means of communication but also as a vehicle for resistance, transformation, and the negotiation of identity. Master and Pupil emerges, beyond a magical apprenticeship narrative, as a multilayered performance of disembodiment and symbolic transmission through an intermedial perspective; in this context, musicality and vocality operate as liminal forces. The pupil's acquisition of voice signifies both a narrative rupture and a restructuring of hierarchical relations. Furthermore, the article situates the tale within the broader matrix of the Georgian oral storytelling tradition, demonstrating how recurring motifs surrounding the transformation of voice reflect culturally embedded patterns of media convergence and embodied knowledge. By foregrounding the tale's intermedial dynamics, this study reframes folk tales as a fluid site of aesthetic, cultural, and epistemic negotiations.