Folktales of Egypt (Folktales of the World)
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Book Overview
In this book Hasan M. El-Shamy has gathered the first authentic new collection of modern Egyptian folk narratives to appear in nearly a century. El-Shamy's English translations of these orally presented stories not only preserve their spirit, but give Middle Eastern lore the scholarly attention it has long deserved. "This collection of seventy recently collected Egyptian tales is a major contribution to African studies and to international distribution studies of folktales. In the face of the recent anthropological trend to use folkloric materials for extra-folkloric purposes, the preeminence of the text must be asserted once more, and these are obviously authentic, straightforwardly translated, fully documented as to date of collection and social category of informant, and for all that . . . readable."--Daniel J. Crowley, Research in African Literatures "Western knowledge of virtually all facets of contemporary Egyptian culture, much less the roots of that culture, is woefully inadequate. By providing an interesting, varied, and readable collection of Egyptian folktales and offering clear and sensible accounts of their background and meaning, this book renders a valuable service indeed."--Kenneth J. Perkins, International Journal of Oral History
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0226206246
ISBN13:9780226206240
Release Date:January 1980
Publisher:University of Chicago Press
Length:347 Pages
Weight:1.30 lbs.
Related Subjects
African & Middle Eastern Children's Books Egypt Folklore Folklore & Mythology History & Criticism Literary Criticism Literary Criticism & Collections Literature & Fiction Middle East Mythology & Folk Tales Politics & Social Sciences Social Science Social Sciences Textbooks World LiteratureCustomer Reviews
1 rating
excellent and unique, but could be more comprehensive
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
I stopped by on a dedicated hunt for a variety of anthropologic resources and couldn't believe that nobody had reviewed this fine work (I hope that doesn't mean that nobody has read it!). The stories range from Arabic classic archetypes to trickster stories (here attributed to Goha, who is quite the same as Hodja, Djuha, etc.) to modern Cairene "street tales." To whet the prospective reader's interest I will merely sketch the story of the modern youth whose girl friend is so upset over "losing" her virginity over and over again that rather than have her sewn up the third time it happens, he has the doctor install a zipper . . .
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