Books : Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library.)
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 398.208968
EAN num: 9780375714399
ISBN number: 0375714391
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: September 09, 2003
Publishing house: Pantheon
Release Date: September 09, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 79379
Studio: Pantheon
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The wisdom and artistry of Latin America's storytellers preserve one of the world's richest folktale traditions--combining the lore of medieval Europe, the ancient Near East, and pre-Columbian America. Among the essential characters are the quiet man's wife who knew the Devil's secrets, the tree daughters who robbed their father's grave, and the wife in disguise who married her own husband--not to mention the Bear's son, the tricksters Fox and Monkey, the two compadres, and the classic rogue Pedro de Urdemalas.
Gathered from twenty countries, including the United States, the stories are here brought together in a core collection of one hundred tales arranged in the form of a velorio, or wake, the most frequent occasion for public storytelling. The tales are preceded by a selection of early Colonial legends foreshadowing the themes of Latino folklore and are followed by a carefully chosen group of modern Indian myths that replay the basic stories in a contrasting key. Riddles, chain riddles, and folk prayers, part and parcel of the velorio along with folktales, are introduced at appropriate junctures.
The collection is unprecedented in size and scope, and most of the tales have not been translated into English before. The result is the very first panoramic anthology of Hispano-American folk narratives in any language--meant to be dipped into at random or read straight through from 'Once and twice makes thrice upon a time' to 'They were happy as the dickens and ate chickens.'
From the Hardcover edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is a great collection of Latin American myths and fairy tales. The stories are simply wonderful, very skillfully related and full of humour. My only disappointment was in the too modern translation, which can really break the spell once in awhile. Other than that, a very satisfying read.
(The whole Pantheon Fairy Tale Library series is a treat, and for anyone who loves stories, I highly recommend the Norwegian Fairy Tales, probably the most wonderful piece of world folklore you'll ever encounter.)
Rated by buyers 
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Bierhorst, a distinguished (elderly, to boot) scholar of the American Indian--both north and south of the Rio Grande--does not disappoint with this stunning addition to the Pantheon folklore series. The stories, which represent a comprehensive swath through Spanish-speaking Latin America (Brazil, Haiti, and such are conspicuously absent), exhibit the expected intermixture of Christian and autochthonous motifs, as well as a strong dose of European provenance (get out your Aarne-Thompson type catalogue!). The stories do not fall neatly into the taxonomy of etiologic/trickster/love, etc., as one sees in, e.g., the Erdoes & Ortiz collection under the Pantheon colophon: indeed, structuring the stories within a wake (!) seems quite artificial. But the material is quite entertaining for the armchair reader looking for something light and not objecting the casual uptake of an anthropologic lesson or two.
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