Folktales of India (Folktales of the World) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226040836 ISBN 13: 9780226040837

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Synopsis

Bringing together nearly one hundred tales translated from fourteen languages, Folktales of India opens the vast narrative world of Indian folklore to readers of English. Beck includes oral tales collected from tribal areas, peasant groups, urban areas, and remote villages in north and south India, and the distinctive boundary regions of Kashmir, Assam, and Manipur. The tales in this collection emphasize universal human characteristics—truthfulness, modesty, loyalty, courage, generosity, and honesty. Each story is meant to be savored individually with special attention given to the great range of motifs presented and the many distinct narrative styles used. Folktales of India offers a superb anthology of India's bountiful narrative tradition.

"This collection does an excellent job of representing India. . . . It is the type of book that can be enjoyed by all readers who love a well-told tale as well as by scholars of traditional narrative and scholars of India in general."—Hugh M. Flick, Jr., Asian Folklore Studies

"The stories collected here are representative, rich in structural subtlety, and endowed with fresh earthy humor."—Kunal Chakraborti, Contributions to Indian Sociology

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0226040836
• ISBN 13: 9780226040837
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 389
• Editor: Beck Brenda E. F., Claus Peter J., Goswami Praphulladatta, Handoo Jawaharlal