[Ansteorra] Boasting: then and now (Re: Wanting Awards & Persona)

[Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace]

Salut cozyns,

Diarmaid a dit que:

>I have to say that given the difficulties I've had getting jobs, and
>promotions over the years because I totally suck at selling myself, in
>modern American culture it is very much expected that to get ahead, 
>boasting
>and trumpting your abilities is mandatory.
>
>I've only really arrived where I am today by luck and people in the
>workplace who believed that I could work miracles (silly people).
>Actually, I suppose that's as true for the SCA as it is in my daily job.

It's enough to drive you nuts, n'est-ce pas?  We're raised to believe in the 
virtues of modesty and humility, but job interviews, résumés, college 
applications, annual employee evaluations, and book publishers accepting 
unsolicited manuscripts all expect you to trumpet your own abilities. What's 
worse, they expect you to be skilled at it.

Pre-Jacobean attitudes toward boasting can appear quite a bit different at 
first glance--especially in fame/shame cultures like the Norse and Saxon. 
Upon closer inspection, however, I think you'll find that the differences 
tend to be more of type than degree. The biggest difference of type is the 
promotion of meekness as a virtue with the advent of Christianity. Even in 
cultures that did not recognize humility and modesty as virtues in and of 
themselves, however, the limitations on boasting tend to be familiar.

If, for example, we examine the trope of the boast in Anglo-Saxon literature 
(or, hell, even back in Homer), we find that the general attitude remains 
applicable even today. A clear distinction is drawn between the honest boast 
and the hollow threat. Battlefield boasts are common in fame/shame 
literatures, but they are also followed by logical consequences. If a 
warrior puffs up his chest and begins to shout that he's going to personally 
skewer the heroes of the opposition and feed them to the gods en brochette, 
you know you are going to see one of two distinct scenarios. Either the 
boaster will die swiftly and horribly (or make an ass of himself, which is 
worse because shame sticks to a name like dog doo to an expensive shoe) or 
he will do exactly what he foretells. A careful auditor (these songs were 
sung, not read) always knows which outcome to expect.

The boaster will always fail unless one or more of the following conditions 
prevail:

1) his victory is foretold by his birth, by a prophecy, or by a sign (if by 
birth, the opposition had best not have a more important parent or a 
prophecy--think Sarpedon versus Patroclus),

2) the boast includes reference to past great deeds that support his claimed 
abilities,

3) we've already seen him accomplish superhuman feats earlier in the saga 
(think Beowulf ripping off Grendel's arm),

4) the boaster's history is so well known that none dare doubt him 
(Achilles, Beowulf, Vergil's Aeneas)

Then, as now, empty boasts were not revered. Boasts were not just 
meaningless without proper backing, they were shameful. The songs of the 
Anglo-Saxon scops may not have praised the modesty of the brave warrior who 
refrained from groundless claims of ability, but they do imply the wisdom of 
such restraint.

lo vostre per vos servir
Meser Lyonel
_________________________________
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
		--AElfric of York