Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Book Description

A one volume collection of 160 tales from over 40 cultures and traditions, containing both classics and lesser known tales.

Customer Reviews:

Favorite Folktales from Around the World.......2006-02-23

This is a good, basic collection of stories; you'll be surprised how entertaining they can be! Enjoy.

If you like folktales, you'll want this book.......2000-03-01

Not only is this collection marvelously diverse, but it's also incredibly easy to read. Though the tales still retain the feel of original storytelling, they do not have the awkward idiosyncracies you find in other texts with obscure (to the US) tales which have been litreally translated or transcribed. If you're tired of seeing the same tales in every book you find, get this one. It's a wonderful resource and just plain fun to own.

Hopscotch (Pantheon Modern Writers Series)

Average customer rating:

A Labyrinth Not for the Systematic Reader...
"People who do not read Cortazar are doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease." P. Neruda
A sad ending ...
Not for the plot-hungry, but worth it for enthusiasts
For a multidimensional and modern narrative

Hopscotch (Pantheon Modern Writers Series)
Julio Cortazar
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Latin American | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Blow-Up: And Other Stories
Rayuela/ Hopscotch
Pedro Paramo
Cronopios and Famas
Borges: Collected Fictions

ASIN: 0394752848
Release Date: 1987-02-12

Book Description

Horacio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club." A child's death and La Maga's disappearance put an end to his life of empty pleasures and intellectual acrobatics, and prompt Oliveira to return to Buenos Aires, where he works by turns as a salesman, a keeper of a circus cat which can truly count, and an attendant in an insane asylum. Hopscotch is the dazzling, free-wheeling account of Oliveira's astonishing adventures.

Customer Reviews:

A Labyrinth Not for the Systematic Reader..........2005-12-03

HOPSCOTCH by Julio Cortazar is more of a maze exploration than simply a good read, yet I became entranced with the prose.

Initially I was attracted to the non-linear format of HOPSCOTCH. Cortazar wants us jumping in and out of the plot line in the main "novel" with seemingly off-the-wall interruptions, but they turn out to be connected after all by the "end." And then some of the juxtapositions are less sublime but equally effective, such as in chapter 14 when Oliveira is looking at Wong's series of pictures depicting an execution in China. As gruesome as the descriptions are, skipping next to chapter 114, I couldn't help but to internalize the absurdity of the "civilized" treatment in the San Quentin prison gas chamber.

Anyway, HOPSCOTCH has in fact been a wonderful read but I think this is the kind of book that readers have to give at least fifty pages (even if that happens to be page 210) before the story grabs hold.

"People who do not read Cortazar are doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease." P. Neruda.......2005-09-05

It has taken me years to sit down and finally make a serious commitment to read Julio Cortazar's "Hopscotch/La Rayuela." I cannot think of a better companion to devote a few weeks to, maybe even a bit longer - hey, whatever it takes! It depends on your reading speed and the time you take to savor the poetry of the author's language. So, be willing to make a small personal investment in this very special novel, and the reward you reap will be a worthy one. Julio Cortazar will take you to places you have never been before in literature, and may never experience again. I read "Hopscotch" over this past summer, after a thirty year delay. I can be real stubborn about putting off what is good for me!! Cortazar's imagination is boundless, his prose rich and luminous, his wit and sophistication rare, the dialogue brilliant, the plot...I won't attempt to describe that with a few adjectives. Wander through the extraordinary labyrinthine plot on you own - the way is yours to discover. I promise, you won't get lost!

My introduction to "La Rayuela", (which means hopscotch, like the children's game), is a personal story. I will make it quick. About 30 years ago, while living in Latin America, a friend told me that I reminded him of a character in a novel. The character, La Maga - the book "La Rayuela/Hopscotch." With personal interests at stake and much curiosity, I bought a copy in Spanish, which I read with some fluency at the time. After experimenting with which way to approach the novel, and trying both ways, I gave up...and just read the parts about La Maga. I was too impatient at that point in my life, and needed to become a mellower person, to read slower, with more of a sense of play and participation. And Cortazar wants his readers to participate - to make reading his book an interactive experience, not a passive one. I was and still feel touched when I remember my friend's comments regarding La Maga. She is a magnificent character and Cortazer's prose, his language, (Spanish), is exquisite. So, I thought I'd give it another try, in English, perhaps with better results. None! I just wasn't ready, I guess. That happens to me with fiction sometimes. I have to be open to the experience. However, after all these years, I still thought of Horacio Oliveira and La Maga from time to time. And why not? They are truly unforgettable. As I wrote above, I did make time, at last. For an adventure of a lifetime, I recommend you do the same.

When Julio Cortazar published "La Rayuela" in 1966, he turned the conventional novel upside-down and the literary world on its ear with this experiment in writing fiction. He soon became an important influence on writers everywhere. "Hopscotch" is considered to be one of the best novels written in Spanish. This is an interactive novel where readers are invited to rearrange its sections and read them in different sequences. Read in a linear fashion, "Hopscotch" contains 700 pages, 155 chapters in three sections: "From the Other Side," and "From This Side" - the first two sections are sustained by relatively chronological narratives and so contrast greatly with the third section, "From Diverse Sides," (subtitled "Expendable Chapters"), which includes philosophical extrapolation, character study, allusions and quotations, and an entirely different version of the "ending."

The book has no table of contents, but rather a "Table of Instructions." There, we learn that two approved readings are possible: from Chapter 1 through 56 "in a normal fashion", or from Chapter 73 to Chapter 1 to... well, wherever the chapters lead you. The instructions are all in your book and are extremely clear. At the end of each chapter there is a numeric indicator to lead the reader to the next chapter. One never knows where one will be lead. Due to its meandering nature, "Hopscotch" has been called a "Proto-hypertext" novel. Cortázar probably had this work in mind when he stated, "If I had the technical means to print my own books, I think I would keep on producing collage-books."

What is most important, as a reviewer, is to give you, the prospective reader, an idea of the narrative and the characters...and to tell you why reading this novel was such an extraordinary experience for me. Horacio Oliveira, our protagonist and sometimes narrator, is an Argentinean expatriate, an intellectual and professed writer in 1950's bohemian Paris. He and his close friends, members of "the Club," do lots of partying, drinking, and intellectualizing, discussing art, literature, music and solving the world's problems. Oliveira lives with and loves La Maga, an exotic young woman, somewhat whimsical, at times almost ephemeral who leaves behind her, like the scent of a light perfume, a feeling of poignancy and inevitable loss. La Maga refuses to plan her encounters with Oliveira in advance, preferring instead to run into each other by chance. Then she and Oliveira celebrate the series of circumstances that reunite them - although he knows well the places she frequents and is capable of causing at least a few planned surprises. Eventually, he loses La Maga, who loses her child. With her absence, Oliveira realizes how empty and meaningless his life is and he returns to his native Buenos Aires. There he finds work first as a salesman, then a keeper of a circus cat, and an attendant in an insane asylum.

As Oliveira wends his way through France, Uruguay and Argentina looking for his lost love, "Hopscotch's" narrative takes on an emotionally intense stream of consciousness style, rich in metaphor. Back In Argentina, Oliveira shares his life with his bizarre double, Traveler, and Traveler's wife, Talita, whom Oliveira attempts to remake into a facsimile of La Maga. The game of hopscotch is only developed as a conceit late in the narrative. It is first used to describe Oliveira's confused love for La Maga as "that crazy hopscotch." The theme develops as a metaphor for reaching Heaven from Earth. "When practically no one has learned how to make the pebble climb into Heaven, childhood is over all of a sudden and you're into novels, into the anguish of the senseless divine trajectory, into the speculation about another Heaven that you have to learn to reach too." The variations on the children's game are described as "spiral hopscotch, rectangular hopscotch, fantasy hopscotch, not played very often." The allusions continue and include some beautiful passages.

"Hopscotch" is much more than a novel. Ultimately, it is best left for each reader to define what it is for himself/herself. Pablo Neruda in a famous quote said, "People who do not read Cortazar are doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease." I don't know whether I would go so far. Remember, I put off the experience for many years. But this is one novel that should be read during one's lifetime. It is brilliant and it is fun!
JANA

A sad ending ..........2005-01-10

... but not in the fashion of what Julio Cortazar called the female reader, but in the sense that, in an act of editorial indiscretion, the author failed to let go of the entire Part 3, making a bona-fide, in fact a supreme book matching Under the Volcano in emotional intensity into something with a large appendix of (sometimes amusing) existentialist musings. If you are into novelist anticlimax, or antinovelish (Cortazar's word) fettishes, go ahead and read part 3. If you want to go out on a high note, stop after you have done Part 2.

The above notwithstanding, Cortazar was a supreme talent. The story is a simple one, but Cortazar was able to make it extremely complicated in words, intellectual virtuosity, and existentialist absurdities. If the reader finds the start tedious and pointless, I can assure you that you will find your reward near the end of Part 2 (in fact for most of Part 2). Certain scenes and narratives were just acts of genius, and it was emotionally moving.

However, don't go to Part 3, if you do not want your emotional resonance deconstructed -- maybe that is the point of Part 3, but I am just a little too old-fashioned.

Not for the plot-hungry, but worth it for enthusiasts.......2005-01-01

I suppose it's unreasonable to expect the world's first so-called hypertext novel - one in which you can read the chapters sequentially, or in an order recommended by the author, or in any other order you choose - to have a compelling plot. After all, plot relies on anticipation and surprise, both of which come from authorial control over how and when information is revealed. A lot of the delight in fiction comes from this, and most of the rest from character, theme and the texture of the language. Cortazar's revolutionary novel is big on the last few, but not unexpectedly fails to be very engaging when it comes to story. It's more of a character study, or rather an elaboration of a philosophical position through the depiction of certain people in a particular place and time, i.e. left-leaning international emigres in 1950s Paris, and later the locals in Buenos Aires, who spend most of their time smoking, drinking, listening to jazz, competing for affection, philosophizing about life, and trying not to be the creative geniuses they obviously know they are. There are some wonderful set pieces: the infamous Chapter 28 involving a baby in a darkened room; the afternoon a plank bridge is erected to join two hotel rooms on opposite sides of a busy Buenos Aires street; an elaborate booby trap of water-filled basins, tangled threads and ball-bearings to thwart a vengeful lover in the night; and, obviously, the hopscotch squares of the title which are drawn in the courtyard of an insane asylum. These incidents are all engaging, comic, and wonderfully laden with a metaphorical/philosophical import which serves Cortazar's embedded theme: that is, the conundrum of consciousness; the unending desire to break through "the wall" to the other side of life in order to achieve the "unity" we intuitively feel exists but to which there is no easy path. This is the novel's engine, but it does take a while to fire up. If slowly savouring 500+ pages of that kind of thing interests you, then you'll enjoy "Hopscotch" immensely. If it doesn't, then reading this novel will be somewhat like being trapped at a really bad party with drunk and depressive philosophy undergraduates who think they know everything about jazz. I had the urge to leave early, but I'm glad I stayed until the end. Eventually, someone shut the music off, opened all the windows, and in the silence of dawn something clicked.

For a multidimensional and modern narrative .......2004-11-21

Many people think that the word interaction is a XXI century concept related to computers and cyberspace, but it as far as literature goes, this is one of the oldest concepts pursued by many writers. Argentinian Julio Cortázar comes as one of the most important authors to seek such structure with his monumental novel "Hopscotch", written in 1964.

Not only history did influence Cortázar in his writings, but also European Vanguards have a major role in his literary project -- most notably Cubism. The non-linear narrative of "Hopscotch" makes its structure reads like a hopscotch game. Reading the novel feels like jumping from one square to another, back and forth. Using that, the author tries to violate the rules established of writing and narrative structure.

If one chooses to read "Hopscotch" in the linear fashion --both ways are possibilities -- there are 155 chapters in three sections: "From the Other Side," "From This Side," and "From Diverse Sides" (subtitled "Expendable Chapters"). And in the introduction the reader will find a "Table of Instructions." There, we learn that two approved readings of the book are possible: from Chapter 1 through 56 "in a normal fashion" (i), or from Chapter 73 to Chapter 1 to... well, wherever the chapters lead. Each has a numeric indicator of the subsequent chapter following its terminal sentence. In this way, we do not know which chapter to expect next until it is time to actually read it.

Horacio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer living in the bohemian Paris of the 50s. After losing her lover, known as La Maga, he returns to his Buenos Aires to continue his picaresque adventures.

Another structure used in the novel is the labyrinth -- like the labyrinth of streets where Oliveira usually meets La Maga in Paris. And this also alludes to an emotional labyrinth to which both he and she will be trapped. By the way, emotion -- not the regular one-- has a major role in the narrative. All Oliveira's friends are somehow emotionally damaged -- trying to cope with their depression and problems.

However much the structure sounds like off putting, the novel reads smoothly once one gets into the cubism of the narrative. Needless to say that the reader must appreciated the bohemian way of life -- including alcohol and drugs, and art discussion -- to be interested in the book.

With his "Hopscotch", Cortázar defies his readers. Playing this game is worth the candle. Experienced readers will be delighted with the structure of hypertext and all the possibilities of reading this novel.

American Indian Myths and Legends (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

wow
authentic but inconsistent
166 Quickies
Fantastic Collection of Stories from the First Nations
Good storyteller

American Indian Myths and Legends (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Richard Erdoes , and Alfonso Ortiz
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends)
Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories, and Ceremonies
Native American Stories (Myths and Legends)
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African Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore)

ASIN: 0394740181
Release Date: 1985-08-12

Book Description

Gathering 160 tales from 80 tribal groups to offer a rich and lively panarama of the Native American mythic heritage. 100 drawings.

Customer Reviews:

wow.......2007-10-11

This is exactly what I was looking for!
The Indians legends and myths about nearly everything.
Maybe you have read the books of Carlos Castaneda and wanted to know more about the world of Indians? Maybe you are just wondering what is behind the white peoples world? Or maybe you just enjoy reading good stories for yourselves and for your children.

It would be wise for us to start reading a stories for our children again, instead of putting them before TV. This is kind of strong base for their mental structure- to face the everyday lifes stress and routine.

For all reasons this is a good choice.

I read al lot, maybe 60-80 books a year, but this book I will remember.
Enjoyable reading to you!

authentic but inconsistent.......2007-08-01

this collection is, for the most part, written directly from recordings of tribe members retelling the stories. there is a nice sense of authenticity in the collection, but many of the stories really seem to be collected for the sake of collecting the stories... in other words, there is a definite inconsistency throughout this book.

it can be tedious to get through some parts, because the legends occasionally seem to go nowhere. it seems that many of these myths are explanations of how something came in to being, rather than a moralistic message, and in this sense it is valuable in presenting insight into the worlview of the cultures represented. nevertheless, as a reader it is enjoyable to feel that a story is leading up to something, which is not always the case here.

i was surprised by the politically incorrect title (First Nations is the preferred term nowadays- "Indians" is considered offensive), but the book was published in 1984 so this makes sense- perhaps a reprint will have a different title.

166 Quickies.......2005-02-28

Sorting through many of the American Indian Myths (As if there was a homogenized group called American Indians) Richard Erdoes and Alfonzo Ortiz selected 166 short, one or two page, stories. These stories look like the pre-curser to the urban legends today.

The myths are artificially separated into ten subjects and lose the continuity of being divided by particular ethnic group; thus we never get a feel for the bigger picture of where the stories come from.

You need a great sense of humor as many of the stories are very kinky such as "TEETH IN THE WRONG PLACE" (PONCA-OTOE), which is exactly what it implies.

There seems to be only three Zuni tales out of the 166. I wonder if there is a reason for this.

Fantastic Collection of Stories from the First Nations.......2003-12-25

Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz really did a wonderful job putting together this compilation. Taking various stories from North America, the duo covers traditional tales of everyone from the Aleut to the Toltecs and pretty much everything in between. Every region and culture group is represented, and tales from well known Nations such as the Cherokee, Lakota, Dine (Navajo), Apache and Iroquois appear beside those of less well known (but no less vibrant and culturally active) Nations such as the Miwok, Caddo, Metis and Shasta. Hopefully this will help expand people's views of Native American culture. After all, stereotypical views of "Indians" rarely include the Nations of California or the Pacific Northwest, or even the Southern Woodlands (the original homeland of the Cherokee and their neighbors). Obviously not every Nation could be represented, but this is still an excellent survey of the continent. It does a wonderful job showing how common cultural themes have woven their way across this entire continent, helping to reinforce the culture and customs of the First Nations. And at the same time, it also shows how each culture was different, having its own beliefs, customs and practices unique to themselves.

Each chapter was divided into a different theme, so the book covers the Creation of People, the Creation of the World, Stories about Celestial Bodies, Monsters, War Heroes, Love, Tricksters, Animal People, Ghosts and the End of the World. Hence the book goes full circle in exploring major themes in North American belief. Each chapter includes the stories of numerous Nations from different regions, linguistic families or "cultural groupings", allowing the reader to see them in a much broader light. All of the stories are short, and they range in mood from hilarious (Intome's description of his nightmare in "Inktome Has a Bad Dream") to being deeply moving (the sun's sacrifice in "The Scabby One Lights Up the Sky"). At the end of each story, the source is given and they come from quite a number of sources. Many are recorded in this book for the first time as far as I am aware, so it is certainly worth looking at even if you are very familar with Native American traditions.

To those familar with Native American culture, some things in this book should be familar, particularly the antics of Coyote, Inktome the spider, Raven and other tricksters, but also the tales of Glooskap, giants, floods, disembodied cannibal heads, the place of emergence, Hiawatha and so forth. One thing I should point out before going further is that some of these tales deal with adult themes (in the Inuit tale "Moon Rapes His Sister Sun" the moon commits the sins of rape and incest and forever chases his sister across the sky) and can be downright raunchy (as is the case with several of the Coyote and Inktome stories). There is nothing wrong with these stories, as they either are meant to teach a moral lesson (as is the case with the former) or because they are meant to amuse (in the case of the trickster stories). But it can come as something of a shock to those who are expecting "mere children's stories". Still, if you or someone you know has an interest in Native American culture, this book is certainly worth getting.

Good storyteller.......2003-04-01

Adult storybook....
I ordered this book to glimpse into the Native American mythology, and I have to say, I am very impressed. This book comprises of ten parts, each consisting of intelligent, sometimes even funny tales and facinating stories of Human Creation, World Creation, Sun-Moon-Stars, Monsters, Love and Sex, Animals and Birds, and Ghosts-to mention a few. It's filled with analogies taken from nature. All these stories come from the tribes once spread across all over the North American continent. The editors claim that some of the stories are completely "untouched" by white people and that they still convey the original folklores started some thousands of years ago.
If you are interested in idiosyncratic facts than forget about it, if you like good stories and folk-tales, this book is for you.

The Norse Myths (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

There's only one thing you need to know when looking for an introduction to Norse myths...
Thor give me strength/ gib mir kraft
Must-have reference.
Wonderful!
A Portal To An Older Time

The Norse Myths (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Kevin Crossley-Holland
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
Nordic Gods and Heroes
The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)
Exploring The Northern Tradition: A Guide To The Gods, Lore, Rites And Celebrations From The Norse, German And Anglo-saxon Traditions (Exploring Series)
The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths

ASIN: 0394748468
Release Date: 1981-07-12

Book Description

Here are thirty-two classic myths that bring the Viking world vividly to life. The mythic legacy of the Scandinavians includes a cycle of stories filled with magnificent images from pre-Christian Europe. Gods, humans, and monstrous beasts engage in prodigious drinking bouts, contests of strength, greedy schemes for gold, and lusty encounters. The Norse pantheon includes Odin, the wisest and most fearsome of the gods; Thor, the thundering powerhouse; and the exquisite, magic-wielding Freyja. Their loves, wars, and adventures take us through worlds both mortal and divine, culminating in a blazing doomsday for gods and humans alike. These stories bear witness to the courage, passion, and boundless spirit that were hallmarks of the Norse world.

Customer Reviews:

There's only one thing you need to know when looking for an introduction to Norse myths..........2006-12-26

...and that this is the book Neil Gaiman recommends on the subject.

Thor give me strength/ gib mir kraft.......2006-08-03

If you're looking for a good cheap book on norse mythology then you should buy this book. It starts off with an introduction which tell the kind of roles these myhs played in the lives of the norse. It also helps set you up with some information on some of the god's and how these myths came into being.
Then come the stories which start with the creation of the world and it ends with the destruction of it. In all you get 32 stories, most of which deal with the god's interacting with humans, dwarves and their enemies the giants. The stories themselves are told very nicely and they never get dull. The only problem one might have is trying to pronounce some of the names.
After the stories he gives information on each story on which source he used and sometimes he had to use differnt sources or how he had to altar some things so that the stories didn't contridict each other. There is also an index and a glossary at the end.
I really enjoyed this book for the stories and the history behind them and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who has an interest in the norse myths, young or old.

Must-have reference........2006-01-04

Finally I've found it: the book of tales of Odin, and Thor, and Bifrost, and Ragnarok! What a pleasure to read the tales that inspired so much of the world's fantasy literature! Here you'll find the background stories behind and the likes of Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied or the Volsungs' Saga, and obviously the roots of Professor Tolkien's own Middle-Earth mythology, so numerous are the similarities.

Not only are the thirty-two myths comprised in this translation very well told and captivating, but the introduction and notes are very complete and interesting, not to mention the very practical glossary and index. I haven't read Snorri Sturluson's Edda so I can't compare, but I'm pretty sure Kevin Crossley-Holland's is one of the best reference books on the subject, a must-have on one's shelf.

Wonderful!.......2005-07-17

This book is truly wonderful! The author captures the spirit of the Norse times perfectly. He keeps the myths true to the originals and manages to make it an exciting read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Norse mythology and to whoever enjoys a good book.

A Portal To An Older Time.......2005-07-10

As an avid mythology fan, I had been trying to explore the area of Norse mythology when I stumbled upon this book. I had been having trouble find a well-written, comprehensive source, as the Norse Myths are unfortunately not as widely spread as Classical or Arthurian myths. However, I had been intrigued by the brief allusions to what I'd heard.
When I began reading this book, I was amazed at how coherent the Norse world is, and this book does an excellent job at pulling it all together. The introduction to the Norse cosmology is useful and fascinating, and the tales span the creation of the world, the exploits of Odin, the imprisonment of Loki and the final Ragnarok myth amongst many others.
The book is written in a simple, yet powerful vernacular. The narrative is enrapturing and written as an old story told around a fire. (I even read a few aloud to friends.) The stories themselves are unrepentantly pagan and provide a look into an older world without any modern values insinuated into them.
Most importantly, this book is an excellent read. You can flip to a random tale and amuse yourself for 15 minutes or you can sit down for a good read and follow the saga of the Norse Gods. If you've any interest in mythology at all, I recommend it.

Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)
A collection of 220 folk tales from old Japan
Pretty Killer
Tyler is one of the best
a treasure bag of wonderful japanese tales

Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)
Royall Tyler
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

jp-unknown1 | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0375714510
Release Date: 2002-08-13

Book Description

Here are two hundred and twenty dazzling tales from medieval Japan, tales that welcome us into a fabulous, faraway world populated by saints and scoundrels, ghosts and magical healers, and a vast assortment of deities and demons. Stories of miracles, visions of hell, jokes, fables, and legends, these tales reflect the Japanese worldview during a classic period in Japanese civilization. Masterfully edited and translated by the acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji, these stories ably balance the lyrical and the dramatic, the ribald and the profound, offering a window into a long-vanished though perennially fascinating culture.

Customer Reviews:

Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library) .......2007-02-13

I have yet to encounter one of the Pantheon folklore series that was not a good read. This is no exception. My regret is that they have not published more and that some of their folklore books seem out of print. I enjoyed this book and I am happy to recommend it. I have one other book on the subject (purchased over ten years ago) and this one complements the first.

A collection of 220 folk tales from old Japan.......2004-06-07

"Japanese Tales" is probably the best collection of Japanese folk tales available. Every conceivable piece of folk lore is packed in this book, categorized and deftly translated into English. A host of monsters, ghosts, demons and heroes are packed in tightly, their stories waiting to be discovered.

Of course, with 220 stories in one volume, some of the stories are very short indeed, lasting a half-page at best. Many are just the right size for a child's bedtime story. Some of the stories are longer, but I don't think any of them run over 2 or 3 pages. Some stories have a moral, or tell a cautionary tale, while many are merely there to entertain, frighten or amuse.

As interesting as the book itself is the author's introduction, a 35 page quick course on Japanese folklore and mythology. In it, he outlines some fundamental themes as well as showing the logic behind his categorizing of the stories.

An excellent book, belong on the shelf of anyone with an interest in Japanese folklore.

Pretty Killer.......2004-05-04

I rate this book to be Pretty Killer. It is extremely well, written, with translator Royall Tyler keeping up his usual excellence. if you are new to Japanese literature, i reccomend The Tale of Genji (Tyler), The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, and As I Crossed A Bridge of Dreams- Sarashina Nikki (Morris). Even if you hold little interest in Japan or the literature of such, this book is engaging, amusing, thoughtful, and supplies you with stories you can retell. Read the darn thing.

Tyler is one of the best.......2004-03-24

Royall Tyler is one of the best, if not _the_ best translator working to translate classic works of Japanese literature into English. This collection of short tales provides a wide sampling of many stories told and retold in Japan for many centuries, and range from the humorous to the romantic to the bizarre. Some are very short while others are much longer.

Each of the originals had a simple style derived from the oral traditions that preserved them. Some of them constitute the oldest folk tales ever written down, dating to collections made by gentlemen scholars of the 12th century who wrote down tales they heard for their own entertainment.

But the collection pulls in tales from many different eras of Japanese history and many different aspects of Japanese culture, providing a truly diverse and entertaining set of stories for the reader who wishes either to enjoy a good tale, or for the serious student of Japan who wants to understand the culture more deeply.

Royall Tyler also made the definition translation of _The Tale of Genji_, the 11th century classic novel that is the crown jewel of Japanese traditional literature and one of the world's great novels. _Genji_, running approximately one thousand pages in English translation, written in the elegant language of the Imperial Court, is the very opposite of these short, vernacular folktales and stories. That Tyler can do justice to both sorts of work is a rare and admirable quality in a translator.

Serious students of classical Japan will find that the tales included in _Japanese Tales_ that date to the same era as _Genji_ offer a valuable alternate perspective to life and society during this time period. Any library that carries _The Tale of Genji_ on its shelves ought to carry _Japanese Tales_. The two works serve as bookends to the opposite ends of the Japanese traditional literary spectrum.

a treasure bag of wonderful japanese tales.......2004-02-05

For my money, everything that Royall Tyler touches turns to gold, and that is as true of "Japanese Tales" as it is of his more recent translation of "The Tale of Genji." In "Japanese Tales," he has assembled and artfully translated 220 stories published between the ninth and fourteenth centuries in Japan, stories that are often difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere in English. For the most part, these are not the extended stories that we tend to call fairy tales in the West, and the book is not designed to provide reading material for children. What it does provide is a very solid sampling of the types of tales the early Japanese used to provide moral guidance, explain how things came to be, and record historical moments. And if that were not enough, Tyler's outstanding introduction, 35 pages in length, provides a lucid understanding of life in Heian-period Japan and beliefs about everything from serpents and mountains to deities and demons. This is simply a book you cannot afford to miss if your interests in Japan are those of either an enthusiastic amateur or a focused scholar.

Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

Thank goodness for the "search inside" feature
3 and 5
Great set of night time stories
Ian Myles Slater on: Classic Tales, Enduring Translation
Timeless!

Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Aleksandr Afanasev
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0394730909
Release Date: 1976-09-12

Book Description

Nearly 200 characteristic and colorful traditional folk and fairy tales are brought together in the only comprehensive edition available in English. Of the original 1945 edition, Eudora Welty wrote, "These Russian tales are rambunctious, full-blooded and temperamental. They are tense with action, magical and human, and move in a kind of cyclone of speed....These tales are gorgeous."

Customer Reviews:

Thank goodness for the "search inside" feature.......2007-07-07

I almost bought this as a shower gift for a friend returning from Russia with two newly adopted boys. Thank goodness for the search inside feature, though! The first story ends with the husband giving a "good thrashing" to his cheating wife's lover and to her as well. Not the thing I was looking for!

3 and 5.......2006-12-15

5 - As a collection of Russian Fairy Tales (not all that easy to find) this is a nice repository of a wide variety of tales. I'm learning a lot.

3 - The illustrations were disappointing to me, given my personal preferences. A bit too primative and not very whimsical. Others may like them.

If you want to study Russian Fairy Tales, this will be a useful book. If you want a "stories with wonderfully inspiring images to go along" type book ... keep looking. My girlfriend from Russia says there are better books to be found.

Great set of night time stories.......2006-11-29

I got this book to read to my 4 1/2 year old daughter. I have been reading her a few a night and she loves them. There are tons of short fairy tales which are both magical and fun. I can easily read two a night for months! Many stories involve Baba Yaga who is one of our favorite characters. I like the fact that "witches" and other magical beings represent complex characters capable of both good and evil. This is in stark contrast to many more well known fairy tales where the witch, is portrayed to be just evil. The stories are also less dark and frightening and frequently funnier. The book uses a rich vocabulary which is proving a valuable tool in teaching my daughter as well as myself. In short, I like it and strongly recommend it.

Ian Myles Slater on: Classic Tales, Enduring Translation.......2004-04-02

I have owned since 1975 a copy of an earlier, hardcover, Pantheon reprint edition of this superb collection, which was originally published in 1945. I have used it for both light reading and for serious study (while in courses on Baltic and Slavic Folklore and Folktale Studies). The selection and translation of stories both seem first-rate. (For the latter, I have had to rely on the opinions of those who actually read Russian, instead of just having studied it in school.) The accompanying illustrations are properly enchanting -- and only occasionally are placed where they give away the point of the story.

The only real drawback is that it is still merely a selection from about three volumes (depending on the edition you prefer) of "skazki." This is the Russian term for oral tales of marvels, adventures, and misadventures, equivalent to the German "Maerchen." In both cases, the English term "Fairy Tale" is the conventional, but not really adequate, translation. (As usual in large collections, only a handful of tales concern anything like fairies.) One of the requirements for the selection seems to have been that the tales chosen should be acceptable to American parents in the 1940s, but otherwise the considerable variety of the original seems to have been largely preserved. The suggested reader age of "9 to 12" conceals the pleasure that adult readers with interests in folklore or Russian culture will derive from the volume. Fortunately, they may be lead to it by the fine supplementary material at the end, although this is now half a century old.

Afanas'ev (various transliterations) was one of the many nineteenth-century collectors inspired by the Grimms,. By most accounts he was one of the most responsible, even though his practices of recording and documenting texts are hardly up to modern standards. (Neither were those of the Grimms, for that matter.) The main collection from which this was excerpted was the sourcebook for Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale," a key work in modern folktale studies, but as Roman Jakobson (yes, the Structural Linguist) points out in his commentary to this collection, the book had already established itself as a gem of Russian literature, an inspiration and resource for poets.

Timeless!.......2003-11-09

I've owned this book for roughly 5 years and I still pick it up and read some of the stories or flip through the pages to look at the beautiful and eerie illustrations. I am a big fan of Russian culture, history and especially the mythology and old Slav folklore. These stories are fascinating for children and even more intriguing for adults because of the underlying themes and complexities, metaphorical and political subtext in relation to historical Russian culture and the traditional style of narrative language and tone. Filled with dark humour, intelligent and imaginative twists and lots of charming and weird characters, this book is timeless. You'll find yourself picking it up and reading through it before bed every so-often for ages to come.

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

Grimm's Fairy Tales
excellent
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
this book is more intended for adults or older children not 5 or 6
Grimm's grim fairy tales

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Brothers Grimm
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

German | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
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The Golden Book of Fairy Tales (Golden Classics)

ASIN: 0394494156
Release Date: 1974-08-12

Book Description

For almost two centuries, the stories of magic and myth gathered by the Brothers Grimm have been part of the way children—and adults—learn about the vagaries of the real world. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow-White, Hänsel and Gretel, Little Red-Cap (a.k.a. Little Red Riding Hood), and Briar-Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) are only a few of more than 200 enchanting characters included here. Lyrically translated and beautifully illustrated, the tales are presented just as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm originally set them down: bold, primal, just frightening enough, and endlessly engaging.

Customer Reviews:

Grimm's Fairy Tales.......2007-10-10

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by The Grimm Brothers

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales is a great book. The fairy tales are quite like the modern versions you read today although they don't seem as fictional. I really enjoyed reading the original version of Hansal and Gretel. For those of you who haven't read it (which probably isn't a lot!) is about two poor children who's mother wants to get rid of them so she can eat more and not have to worry about them. The father doesn't agree and tries to change her mind. Hansal overhears the conversation and collects white stones that "glow" in the moonlight. The next day when they are being led into the woods, he drops the stones and at night, they are able to come back home. Their mother gets mad and tries again the next day. Hansal uses bread this time but birds eat up all the crumbs. You can only guess what happens! This story kind of reminded me of birthday parties I used to have when I was five. My parents took different colored yarn balls and made "spider webs" around our living room. On the end of each color, there would be a small toy of some sort. Then the kids would each get a color and wind it back up and it would eventually lead them to a toy. I also read a story I had never heard about a man who does favors for people and animals and when he needs something, they all return the favor. I wish people did more things like that now. I don't recommend this book for younger children because some of the words are a bit complex and some of the stories have meanings that young children might not understand.

excellent.......2007-07-04

"The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales" comprises all of the Grimm brother's dark and eerie tales. I recommend this book to all who enjoy endings that are not always happy.

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales.......2007-05-13

This is a great book to read. It is long but after you start reading it you will love it. I do

this book is more intended for adults or older children not 5 or 6.......2007-04-26

this book is more intended for adults or older children not 5 or 6 year olds there's no pictures which all children love pictures the stories are old and very boring.the book is not intended for youngters.

Grimm's grim fairy tales.......2007-02-17

I read Grimm's Fairy Tales when I was about 7 years old, if not younger. This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I have not been traumatized by the tales in the least. However, if you have an extremely sensitive child that is easily frightened, perhaps you may want to find a different book. For the average child, I think it is a very good read, and it's fun to see the original versions of stories they most likely are already familiar with such as Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and many more.

Norwegian Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Average customer rating:

glorious, ethnographically utile chrestomathy
Norwegian Folktales
One for the Desert Island Library
You speak Norwegian like an American ...
Marvelous stories for children and adults

Norwegian Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Peter Christen Asbjornsen , and Jorgen Moe
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

German | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Folktales from India (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

ASIN: 0394710541
Release Date: 1982-08-12

Book Description

Collected here in a contemporary translation. With these tales we meet witches, trolls and ogres, sly foxes and mysterious bears, beautiful princesses and country lads turned heroes. Includes illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

glorious, ethnographically utile chrestomathy.......2007-06-27

Clearly, the Norwegian peasants enjoyed quite the literary gift. The folktales in this collection are surprising for their sophistication of plot, strong commonalities among the individual tales notwithstanding. (The Trinitarian influence, especially, is blatantly evident: the hero must obtain three magical charms, steal three items from the trolls castle, rescue three princesses, or walk through three castles [of brass, silver, and gold--but, of course!] before proceeding. [By the way, in Native American--particularly Western--myth, it's _four_ that's the magic number.]) One also descries considerable pagan Norse influence: giant eagles (= Hræsvelg), tree-dwelling serpents (= Niðhöggr, if you will, vice Satan-in-the-Garden), and the tortured, bifurcate identification of lightning now with Þórr Óðinsson, now with St. Michael. It's interesting--given that many of these tales cannot date back far beyond the sixteenth century (because of otherwise resultant anachronisms, e.g., muskets and post-medieval kitchen technologies)--that the tenth-century Uppsålan tension of Christian versus pagan Viking is still strongly evident between the lines (even if Nornagest per se does not people any of the tales!).

Believing strongly in the Årne-Thomasson taxonomy of fictive archetypes, one detects considerable similarity among some of the tales with the Swedish tradition (not surprising), the German tradition (also not surprising--just across the gulf), and the Russian tradition (a bit more surprising, given both Russia's geographic isolation and, indeed, its cultural isolation until the entrenchment of the legacy of Peter I in the early to middle 1700s). Personally, it gives me a chuckle to be able to ferret out such common "skeleta," as it were, of various tales, whereby one can select a common middle and slap on, e.g., a Norwegian beginning and a Norwegian ending.

One thing I don't understand is the considerably wider array of supernatural characters in the Swedish than in the Norwegian corpus. Given especially that Norway is rather more rural than its eastern neighbor (witness its one-half the Swedish population in nearly the same land area), I cannot fathom why the Norwegian tales offer only trolls and the occasional manlike giant while the Swedish counterparts also offer elves, markedly non-manlike giants, witches, water spirits (call them nixies, Irish kelpies--even Japanese kappa, if you wish!), and--for that matter--zombies! But I digress. The collection is terrific, the plots are satisfyingly complex (for folktales, at any rate), the symbolism is clever, and the earthy, realistic tone is very, very satisfying as well as convincing that the folk literature actually matches the folk!

Norwegian Folktales.......2006-11-08

The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library is usually excellent, and this book is no exception. It is well worth the money and is a good read. Interestingly, one of the illustrators also provided illustrations for Snorre Sturlasons Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1990.

One for the Desert Island Library.......2001-02-09

I'm a middle-aged English professor, but I love this book now, as I did when I was a kid. If I had to whittle my personal library down from its present size (maybe 3000?) to a hundred books, I'm sure I'd still keep this one. I read these stories now to my children and remember how I loved the stories when I was their age. When I'm a senior, I'll remember how I shared this book with my kids, as well.

You speak Norwegian like an American ..........2000-06-13

I lived near Oslo from Aug. '85-Jan. '86. One fall Saturday, at the checkout counter in a bookstore across from Slottsparken, I said to the clerk in Norwegian "You speak English like an American!" Her sharp tongue shot back "You speak Norwegeian like an American!" She responded to my questions why she (American) was there with "I was married to one of them" and couldn't "go back" because she didn't fit anymore. She recommended a book and also told me she'd translated some Norwegian Folk Tales into English. My host told me later it was Pat Shaw.

My daughters (then 8 and 12) read the book from cover to cover many times. Without the availability of an English grade school library filled with teen and preteen romances my daughters read pretty much whatever was placed on the coffee table. They enjoyed Shaw's translation very much, although I also occaisonally translated directly (with effort) from Asbjørnsen and Moe. This translation gives us in English a look at 'the soul of the Norwegian people', as a good friend describes the folk tales.

Marvelous stories for children and adults.......2000-02-22

My 9-year old was enthralled with the stories in this book, begging for more every night until we finished it. I disagree with his Freudian interpretation, but Bruno Bettelheim is right that folktales touch something wired within us, fulfilling an innate need children have to comprehend the adult world.

Although not as well-known as the German Grimm's collection in the United States, this book is widely revered in Norway. Both are teutonic cultures, but these stories are different in character and feel from the Grimm Brother stories. While they contain elements common to all european fables, this book is filled with trolls, and the reformation seems like a recent event. Norsk tales have a unique and compelling charm.

My favorite fable is in this collection--the one about the mill that explains why the sea is salty. Read it yourself--I don't want to spoil the ending.

From a purist point of view, drawings detract from stories such as these, but two of Norway's most most well-known illustrators are represented, and the artwork is compelling.

This paperback is a reprint of the original English-language translation from 40 years ago. I have that original text packed away somewhere lost, so it was a real treat to be able to buy a new copy to share with my son.

Average customer rating:

good collection

African Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore)

African folktales with an unusual twist

A Great Feast

African Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore)
Roger Abrahams
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Folklore | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Historical | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

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Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales (Aesop Accolades (Awards))

ASIN: 0394721179
Release Date: 1983-08-12

Book Description

Nearly 100 stories from over 40 tribe-related myths of creation, tales of epic deeds, ghost stories and tales set in both the animal and human realms.

Customer Reviews:

good collection.......2007-10-11

It depends what you are looking for.
I was looking for African folktales and stories, just to enjoy little different mood by reading them. I was looking a book with lot of different kind of stories together.
It was exactly what I was expecting. Very good compact collection.
If you enjoy an indian legends and stories, other nations legends then this is a good way to get an taste of african tales.
You will enjoy it.
It is a promise;)

African Folktales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore).......2007-02-13

I have yet to encounter one of the Pantheon folklore series that was not a good read. This is no exception. My regret is that they have not published more and that some of their folklore books seem out of print. I enjoyed this book and I am happy to recommend it. I knew little of African folklore before reading this book. I plan to look into the subject more.

African folktales with an unusual twist.......2005-08-16

Great tales that help to bring the African storyteller experience home, help teach issues of morality, introduce some of the animal life, paint the lifestyle of women as well as men, and provide the usual creation myths etc. one is accustomed to finding in a book of myths. Explanations to the set of tales, and each section of tales is provided by the author, along with why he believes them to be of importance. I enjoyed them thoroughly because he invites you into his experience.

A Great Feast.......2001-07-18

This book gives a great representation of folktales from all parts of Africa. These tales highlight the variety of the people and societies on the continent, helping to correct the notion of Africa being one big country. While stylistically consistent, the themese touched in the book speak of sophistication. From epics to simple "lesson" tales, Mr. Abrahams has done a great job laying out the stories. His introduction is also superb, though for some reason two stories he mentions in his introduction are not to be found in the book itself. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for the "real folk," and not simply beddy time stories (though some stories here could be used for that too!)

Average customer rating:

The Pantheon (Great Building Feats)
Lesley A. Dutemple
Manufacturer: Lerner Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Architecture | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Europe | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny
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ASIN: 082250376X

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