ABSTRACT
'Orality' concerns the live pronouncements of live people; and the questions which it imposes on those who engage with it arise from the fact that those people do not remain with us for ever. Such questions can be coldly academic, but they can also be warmly personal. Rino Grappi (1930-2002) was a loved, admired, essential, even iconic member of the Teatro Povero company in Monticchiello,for most of its existence. He encapsulated better than anyone else the memory and the spirit of civiltà contadina. He died just three weeks before the London conference 011 Orality', while the present essay was still being composed. These reflections are now dedicated to his memory.
