Myths & Legends Books

Book SynopsisThe story of The White Snake is one of the ""four great narratives"" of China and yet it is almost unknown in the West. The Global White Snake is a major, accessible contribution to our knowledge of the story, its traditional interpretations and its importance throughout history.Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Chapter 1. Introduction to White Snake Legends Gender and Species, Media and Politics Metamorphoses and Regenerations Legends of the White Snake The Power of Transmigration Aspirations in the Remaking of the Legends Theoretical Implications Part I. White Snake at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Chapter 2. The White Snake Problem versus The White Snake Industry The White Snake Problem Inspirations from Kentucky Mystery of the White Snake Hangchow, the “City of Heaven” The White Snake Industry New White Snake Performances, 1870s to 1920s The Popularity of jingju, tanci, and yueju Stage Performance, Urban Gossip, Print Culture, and Intellectual Lamentations Sounding the White Snake: Shaping New Media, New Practice, and New Sensibilities Rong Stage Dominates White Snake Performances Concluding Remarks: The Fall of the Pagoda and the Burning of the Monastery Chapter 3. Fall of the Pagoda and Rise of the White Snake: Visualization and Canonization Fall of the Pagoda and the Visualization of a Vanished Past Bricks, Scriptures, and Visuality: Relics from and Memories of the Thunder Peak Legend, Art Photography, and War Drawing: Timely Journalism and Chinese Popular Imagination Shadows of the Pagoda: Coming to Terms with the Fall through Visual and Textual Representations The Rise of the White Snake and Canonization of “The White Snake Modern” Lu Xun’s Verdict and The Righteous Snake on the Silver Screen The Pagoda in the Film Concluding Remarks: The White Snake Modern Part II Profound Humanity of the Nonhuman during the Cold War Chapter 4. The White Snake Legend in Postwar Japanese Cinema Exquisite Paradise and Forbidden Love in Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu Between Light and Shadow: Infinite Shades of Gray Sound and Look of a Lady Wakasa Film: Pottery, Water, and Mutual Enchantment White Pearl, Red Scarf, and “The Witchcraft of Love” in Byaku fujin no yoren Red Scarf, Manifested Desire, and Significance of Color Special Effects and Technologies of the “Witchcraft of Love” From Hong Kong to Southeast Asia Flowers, Animals, and Humans: Animating the White Snake Legend in Hakujaden From Live-action to Animation “Disney of the East” and Connections between China and Japan Concluding Remarks: A Token of Love Chapter 5. Reconfiguring the White Snake in Korean Cinema in an Inter-Asian Context Sino-Korean Cinematic Connections Shin Sang-ok and the 1960 Madam White Snake The Shadow of Ugetsu and Holding Hands at First Sight Dance to Seduce and Lovers’ Chat in a Moonlit Garden Mutual Love and Devotion, and the Humanity of the Nonhuman Humanity Aided by Special Effects Shin’s Forgotten Second Attempt at a “White Snake” Film: Snake Woman in 1969 A Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Coproduction? Love of the White Snake in 1978 The Taiwan Connection in the Context of a Hong Kong-Singapore Cinematic Matrix Concluding Remarks: The Korean Connection in an Inter-Asian Context Part III. The Specter of the Past in Contemporary Popular Culture Chapter 6. Dancing White Snake, Writing Green Snake: Reconfiguring the Legend in Mainland China and Hong Kong Writing and Dancing, the Text and the Body The Expressiveness of the Hybrid Body and the Iconoclasm of the Green Snake Writing Women of China A Dancing White Snake: Centered on the “Untold Stories” Writing, Dancing, and the Cultural Revolution as Memory and Imagination Concluding Remarks: Lingering Echoes Chapter 7. The White Snake Legend in the United States in the Twenty-First Century: Opera, Drama, and Digital Video From Chinese Legend to Pulitzer-Prize Winning Western Opera: Madame White Snake Green Snake the Storyteller Righteousness against Love, Truth against Freedom The Singaporean and Mainland Chinese Origins The Powers and Possibilities of Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake The Wuzhen Experience More Inspirations from Kentucky Students A Female Writer of Socialist China: Zhao Qingge and Her 1956 Novel The CTC Production in Washington D. C. Poetry, Photography, and Fashion: Digital Challenges from Indrani Chapter 8. Nothing Ever Dies: The Eternal Bodies of the White Snake Korean Webtoon Lady White and Her Afterlife in Chinese The Return of the Powerful Hybrid in the 2019 Internet Drama Legend of White Snake Queering an Icon, Becoming a Demon in the 2019 Animation White Snake: The Legend Begins Everlasting Bodily Memory: From the 1992 New Legend of Madame White Snake to the 2016 Star of Tomorrow The Bodies of the Green Snake and the White Snake Concluding Remarks: The Multiplicity and Openness of the Eternal Bodies of the Snake Women Notes Selected Chronological List of White Snake Texts Selected Bibliography Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisThe story of The White Snake is one of the ""four great narratives"" of China and yet it is almost unknown in the West. The Global White Snake is a major, accessible contribution to our knowledge of the story, its traditional interpretations and its importance throughout history.Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Chapter 1. Introduction to White Snake Legends Gender and Species, Media and Politics Metamorphoses and Regenerations Legends of the White Snake The Power of Transmigration Aspirations in the Remaking of the Legends Theoretical Implications Part I. White Snake at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Chapter 2. The White Snake Problem versus The White Snake Industry The White Snake Problem Inspirations from Kentucky Mystery of the White Snake Hangchow, the “City of Heaven” The White Snake Industry New White Snake Performances, 1870s to 1920s The Popularity of jingju, tanci, and yueju Stage Performance, Urban Gossip, Print Culture, and Intellectual Lamentations Sounding the White Snake: Shaping New Media, New Practice, and New Sensibilities Rong Stage Dominates White Snake Performances Concluding Remarks: The Fall of the Pagoda and the Burning of the Monastery Chapter 3. Fall of the Pagoda and Rise of the White Snake: Visualization and Canonization Fall of the Pagoda and the Visualization of a Vanished Past Bricks, Scriptures, and Visuality: Relics from and Memories of the Thunder Peak Legend, Art Photography, and War Drawing: Timely Journalism and Chinese Popular Imagination Shadows of the Pagoda: Coming to Terms with the Fall through Visual and Textual Representations The Rise of the White Snake and Canonization of “The White Snake Modern” Lu Xun’s Verdict and The Righteous Snake on the Silver Screen The Pagoda in the Film Concluding Remarks: The White Snake Modern Part II Profound Humanity of the Nonhuman during the Cold War Chapter 4. The White Snake Legend in Postwar Japanese Cinema Exquisite Paradise and Forbidden Love in Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu Between Light and Shadow: Infinite Shades of Gray Sound and Look of a Lady Wakasa Film: Pottery, Water, and Mutual Enchantment White Pearl, Red Scarf, and “The Witchcraft of Love” in Byaku fujin no yoren Red Scarf, Manifested Desire, and Significance of Color Special Effects and Technologies of the “Witchcraft of Love” From Hong Kong to Southeast Asia Flowers, Animals, and Humans: Animating the White Snake Legend in Hakujaden From Live-action to Animation “Disney of the East” and Connections between China and Japan Concluding Remarks: A Token of Love Chapter 5. Reconfiguring the White Snake in Korean Cinema in an Inter-Asian Context Sino-Korean Cinematic Connections Shin Sang-ok and the 1960 Madam White Snake The Shadow of Ugetsu and Holding Hands at First Sight Dance to Seduce and Lovers’ Chat in a Moonlit Garden Mutual Love and Devotion, and the Humanity of the Nonhuman Humanity Aided by Special Effects Shin’s Forgotten Second Attempt at a “White Snake” Film: Snake Woman in 1969 A Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Coproduction? Love of the White Snake in 1978 The Taiwan Connection in the Context of a Hong Kong-Singapore Cinematic Matrix Concluding Remarks: The Korean Connection in an Inter-Asian Context Part III. The Specter of the Past in Contemporary Popular Culture Chapter 6. Dancing White Snake, Writing Green Snake: Reconfiguring the Legend in Mainland China and Hong Kong Writing and Dancing, the Text and the Body The Expressiveness of the Hybrid Body and the Iconoclasm of the Green Snake Writing Women of China A Dancing White Snake: Centered on the “Untold Stories” Writing, Dancing, and the Cultural Revolution as Memory and Imagination Concluding Remarks: Lingering Echoes Chapter 7. The White Snake Legend in the United States in the Twenty-First Century: Opera, Drama, and Digital Video From Chinese Legend to Pulitzer-Prize Winning Western Opera: Madame White Snake Green Snake the Storyteller Righteousness against Love, Truth against Freedom The Singaporean and Mainland Chinese Origins The Powers and Possibilities of Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake The Wuzhen Experience More Inspirations from Kentucky Students A Female Writer of Socialist China: Zhao Qingge and Her 1956 Novel The CTC Production in Washington D. C. Poetry, Photography, and Fashion: Digital Challenges from Indrani Chapter 8. Nothing Ever Dies: The Eternal Bodies of the White Snake Korean Webtoon Lady White and Her Afterlife in Chinese The Return of the Powerful Hybrid in the 2019 Internet Drama Legend of White Snake Queering an Icon, Becoming a Demon in the 2019 Animation White Snake: The Legend Begins Everlasting Bodily Memory: From the 1992 New Legend of Madame White Snake to the 2016 Star of Tomorrow The Bodies of the Green Snake and the White Snake Concluding Remarks: The Multiplicity and Openness of the Eternal Bodies of the Snake Women Notes Selected Chronological List of White Snake Texts Selected Bibliography Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisJack becomes a trickster who must deliver England from the hands of three ogres after a failed government inquiry. In this book, the tales expose social anxieties, political corruption, predatory economic behavior, and destructive appetites even as they express hope for a better world.Trade Review"[M]odern answers to Grimm, variously satirical, queered and jaunty, by a diverse, intriguing group of writers."--Marina Warner, Times Literary Supplement "In the wake of the Great War, in the deep bowl of economic depression, on the doorstep of World War II, these stories are the cultural tradition of a disillusioned generation... They are skillfully and delightfully executed renderings, a treasure-collection of the talents of the time, and plain good literature. I recommend them without hesitation."--Christie Ricardo, Spinning Straw into Gold blog "This beautifully produced reissue, published by Princeton University Press and part of the 'Oddly Modern Fairy Tales' series, features an illustration on its front cover which dates back to 1939. It is an extremely well laid out volume, and its introduction and author biographies make lovely additions to the book... This is a collection of tales which certainly deserved a reprint, and will delight lovers of fairytales, nostalgia, British history and short stories alike."--Kirsty Hewitt, BookGeeks (UK) "It's intriguing to see how past authors used fairy tales in their modern fiction."--Sur La Lune blog "The uniqueness of the collection will make you want to savor it, just as I did... You will feel drawn to inspect each story closely, not only because of the tales' fanciful nature, but also because of their fascinating historical placement and significance."--Beanstalk blog "True to the spirit of the folk tale, they keep their stories provincial even as they modernise the settings. Aladdin is a Scottish undertaker in the town of Drumlochie. Cinderella lives in a secluded valley somewhere in Wales. She lives alone, having learnt a hard lesson in love: her story, typically for this collection, brings disenchantment, not happiness."--Ken Gelder, The Age "[D]elightful."--Choice "[A] delightfully different fairy-tale experience for the contemporary reader. Even those well versed in literary fairy-tales will find something new and enchanting in this volume... This collection is an essential addition to the libraries of those who study fairy-tale retellings and will be an enjoyable read for many others as well. Clever, revealing, and often oddly poignant, these stories deserve recognition."--Brittany Warman, Marvels & TalesTable of ContentsIntroduction Maria Tatar 1 Jack the Giant Killer A. E. Coppard 39 Godfather Death Clemence Dane 65 The Fisherman and His Wife E. M. Delafield 95 Little Snow-White Lord Dunsany 121 Aladdin Anna Gordon Keown 137 Sindbad the Sailor Eric Linklater 163 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves A. G. Macdonell 186 Puss in Boots Helen Simpson 208 The Little Mermaid Lady Eleanor Smith 228 Little Red Riding-Hood E. oe. Somerville 249 Cinderella Robert Speaight 271 'O, If I Could but Shiver!' Christina Stead 302 The Sleeping Beauty G. B. Stern 325 Big Claus and Little Claus R. J. Yeatman and W. C. Sellar 354 Author Biographies 365

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Book SynopsisA delicious mix of East and West, of wonder and irony, The Fox and Dr. Shimamura is a most curious novelTrade Review"A wonderful and most of all wonderfully told story." -- Die Zeit"What a beautiful book!" -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"The Fox & Dr. Shimamura is a cornucopia of strange pathologies and historical oddities, spanning multiple continents and languages, that breaks down the polarities between religion and science, supernatural hauntings and neurotic hauntings, and Eastern and Western cultural ideologies. Dr. Shimamura, a Japanese neurologist who travels to the hotspots of psychiatry in early twentieth-century Europe, thinks in both Japanese and German, and harbors a slight disdain for the backwardness of Japanese science; yet while he prides himself on being a supremely rational, modern man, he can’t shake the conviction that he is possessed by a fox that slithers under his skin. Christine Wunnicke takes her place alongside the Japanese-German writer Yoko Tawada as an adept celebrator of cosmopolitan intermixture and the magic of subverting monocultural systems." -- Gregory Ariail - Kenyon Review"A marvel, a wonder—a deeply strange little novel about medicine, memory, and fox possession. With her delicate prose, arch tone, and mischievous storytelling, Wunnicke proves herself a master of the form." -- Kirkus (starred review)"A mythical, mystical, and at times bizarre tale of a late nineteenth-century Japanese doctor who is sent to remote areas of the Shimane prefecture to cure women of fox possession. Wunnicke slyly reminds us that, although women are powerless, even when it comes to treating their own illnesses, they find ways to quietly assert their will over men." -- Melissa Beck - Music and Literature"Wunnicke paints nightmarishly hectic European scenes in a palette of absinthe and Toulouse-Lautrec, and alternates them with nightmarishly static scenes of Shimamura’s declining, colorless present in Japan. Connections proliferate like reflections in a house of mirrors, fascinating and also vaguely queasy — the narrative is disorienting in every sense of the word. But absurdist fiction, like psychotherapy, requires an investment of energy and a suspension of judgment. The Fox and Dr. Shimamura is worth the effort." -- New York Times Book Review"Christine Wunnicke’s glittering, absurdist jewel of a novel." -- New York Times Book Review"The Fox and Dr. Shimamura recovers the almost magical counternarratives running parallel to key moments in the history of western modernity. Shimamura is marked as someone who is navigating the hazy boundaries of gender, finding through the fox spirit some access to an internalized femininity that is rebuked by his society in the form of history’s most gendered diagnosis. Rich and engaging." -- The Carolina Quarterly"An appealingly haunting novel, slightly off-kilter, suggesting the unknown and the unknowable." -- M.A. Orthofer - The Complete Review"A miniature voyage around the world and into the not-so-distant past. Wunnicke’s deftly drawn vignettes of Dr. Shimamura’s life provide tantalizing glimpses into the manifestations of Eastern and Western psychiatry at the turn of the last century." -- Catherine Venner - World Literature Today"Wunnicke spoofs the misogynist history of psychology in this clever and rewarding novel of slippery memories tinged with Japanese myths: this gracefully amusing blend of history and imagination will beguile readers.""“Delightfully crazy—very nicely told: Wunnicke succeeds in drawing us into the logic of this mad world, where the fox moving under a girl’s skin is as vivid (and believable?) as Charcot’s demonstration of the arc of la grande hysterie.”" -- Rosmarie Waldrop

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Book SynopsisFor as long as Mississippi has existed (and then some), flocks of phantoms have haunted the mortal inhabitants of the Magnolia State. In Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey, best-selling folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham, along with her trusty spectral companion Jeffrey, introduces thirteen of the state's most famous ghost stories.

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Book SynopsisThis first-ever translation of Sholom Aleichem’s rediscovered innovative novel Moshkeleh the Thief has a riveting plot, an unusual love story, and a keenly observed portrayal of an underclass Jew replete with characters never before been seen in Yiddish literature. Trade Review"Sholom Aleichem's humor comes through in Curt Leviant's lyrical and delightful translation."—Ilka Gordon, Association of Jewish Libraries“This almost-forgotten novel by one of the greatest Jewish writers of all time is revelatory, vividly depicting an all-too-rarely-seen side of Yiddish literature and Jewish life; its rendering here, by one of Jewish literature’s greatest translators, provides a crackling energy befitting its material. Don’t start it too late in the evening; you won’t be able to put it down.”—Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University professor and author of The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem“This rediscovered short novel by Sholom Aleichem is a gem—a vivid representation of the underside of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, funny, touching, and biting. Curt Leviant has done a remarkable job with the English translation, aptly catching the pungent colloquial character of the Yiddish.”—Robert Alter, emeritus professor of Hebrew and comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary“Moshkele Ganev flies in the face of so much of what we think of when we imagine Eastern European Jewish life. Here, Sholom Aleichem brings us the broadest of visions of that world, not merely by dramatizing the shady characters on society’s margins, but also by inviting us into their emotional lives and uncovering the complicated power structures that can turn them into heroes. For any reader who cares about the Jewish past, this never-before-translated gem will be a revelation—and a delight.”—Dara Horn, author of Eternal Life: A Novel“More than a century after his death, Sholom Aleichem has a new (or rather a newly rediscovered) book out, and it was worth the wait. Thanks to Curt Leviant for rescuing this unusual love story from obscurity, translating it so beautifully, and, at long last, giving it the readership it deserves.”—Aaron Lansky, author of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish BooksTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Chapter 1. Discusses ThievesChapter 2. He Displays His Mettle Early OnChapter 3. His Fight with the Goliath of ZlodeyevkeChapter 4. He Dislikes Mazepevke Jews, and Justifiably SoChapter 5. Chaim Chosid’s Daughter Scandalizes Mazepevke and the Town Goes Topsy-TurvyChapter 6. Chaim Chosid’s Son-in-Law Has an IdeaChapter 7. Turns Back for a While to Discuss Lofty MattersChapter 8. Which Strays Off Course a Bit, Yet Still Has Relevance to the NovelChapter 9. An Undeserved SlapChapter 10. Moshke Has a PlanChapter 11. A Walk in the Monastery GardenChapter 12. Hens Lay Eggs, Jewish Girls Make BabiesChapter 13. On Philosophy, Love, and Other MattersChapter 14. Jews Buy Wine for the SederChapter 15. This Pesach NightChapter 16. Monastery Bells Are RingingChapter 17. A Dangerous LeapChapter 18. A Posted Letter and Some Comments by the AuthorChapter 19. Henekh the Cantor Looks for a JobChapter 20. What a Story! What a Tale!

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION Conjuring entrancing tales of Mexican American mystics and misfits, Marytza K. Rubio shatters the boundaries of reality with this fiercely imaginative debut.Trade Review"In Marytza K. Rubio’s genre-defying debut collection of short stories, the characters—which span from women to animals to the moon—negotiate with nature, invoking Mexican American myths, mystics, and magic. Maria, Maria & Other Stories stretches across the Americas, reimagines the boundaries of reality and fiction, and expands upon the spaces between life and death." -- National Book Foundation announcement, 2022 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction"[A] stunning debut . . . While most of the stories are set in Southern California, a few reach farther afield to Brazil and New Orleans while featuring primarily female protagonists—mothers, sisters, friends, aunts, and cousins—ferociously celebrating feminine power. Rubio confects her moving, disturbing, and intense stories in a variety of styles, voices, and tones, from dark parody to heart-wrenching, grotesque, and violent yet touching. Adorned with illustrations of powerful simplicity . . . Teens will be fascinated by these playful and intense stories featuring young women and girls." -- Sara Martinez, Booklist, starred review"Rubio is an extravagant storyteller; her prose thrums with life, and her plots take hairpin turns. All of this is on full display in Maria, Maria . . . this is transporting work . . . Sprawling magical realistic stories with a moral bent." -- Kirkus Reviews"Purveying characters (both women and animals) with otherwordly powers, Rubio steps across the thin border between life and a dangerous beyond . . . A vividly accomplished debut." -- Barbara Hoffert - Library Journal"Mysticism and imagination run wild in Rubio’s debut collection, which showcases glittering prose and a fearless approach to form and imagery . . . these 10 tales defy categorization and blur genre boundaries . . . Rubio’s talent is evident, and there’s such a range of tones and genres on offer that any reader will find at least something to enjoy." -- Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisA gothic, lyrical evocation of a shipwreck, ghosts, and lost—and found—love in a North Shore town Jack Cooper, last in a long family line of fishermen, lives alone in the remote North Shore town of Greyshore, haunted by grief. But he will discover what it means to be truly haunted when a ghostly woman appears to lure him to land’s end, to the beckoning waves that have broken his heart. In a tale weird and whimsical, as familiar as folklore and as strange as life itself, musical artists Chan Poling and Lucy Michell create a world where even the most hardened soul has to see that grief may be tough, but life is tougher. As Jack’s childhood friend, the loyal and endlessly optimistic Red, tries to counter the ghost’s allure, the story exerts its own charm, guiding us through a landscape of prose and pictures at once irreverent and dead serious. Though the book’s surreal seduction might call to mind the likes of Wes Anderson, Edward Gorey, or the Decemberists, it is, finally, Poling and Michell’s singular accomplishment, an enchanting imaginative leap into life’s haunted depths.Trade Review"Jack and the Ghost is a gorgeously illustrated meditation on grief and loss, a poignant reminder to not let the ghosts of the past control the present."—Jeremy Messersmith"Finally, a book with pictures that can put a waterproof mascara through its paces."—Dessa"Jack and the Ghost is a book with a readership that needs it—they’re waiting for this book. It does its job with simplicity, charm, and beauty."—Arthur Phillips, New York Times Notable Book winner and international best-selling novelist"Chan Poling and Lucy Michell have put together a gorgeous little book featuring deep loss, the rebirth of life, and lush illustrations that remind me of Ludwig Bemelmans' art for the Madeline series."—Geoff Herbach, author of Stupid Fast "Jack and the Ghost is a haunting tale of lost love and the depths we will go to find it. Jack Cooper seems to have lost everything, but those who love him tell him, with tenderness and strength, tell him he needs to live his life, be a part of the world. This journey from despair to love renewed is, in the end, uplifting, and we are left with hope. In truth, this is a perfect story for all ages."—Julie Poling, Red Balloon Bookshop

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Book SynopsisReviving a lost classic of American fairy–tale literature Charles Godfrey Leland was one of the most popular American writers and artists of the nineteenth century, publishing more than twenty books of legends, fairy tales, humor, and essays. Today, however, he is a woefully underappreciated writer. Written, designed, and illustrated by Leland in 1892, The Book of One Hundred Riddles of the Fairy Bellaria is a forgotten classic and a small sample of his influential and experimental work. The Book of One Hundred Riddles of the Fairy Bellaria features the Scheherazade-like fairy goddess Bellaria: powerful and mysterious, courageous and clever, goddess of spring, flowers, love, fate, and death. In this story, Bellaria engages in a duel of wits with an evil king, a death match of one hundred riddles. Each riddle is spoken as a rhyme and illustrated by an original engraving in the arts and crafts style. This book is a beautiful reintroduction to Leland and his pioneering design.

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Book SynopsisWhen Lulu was a child, her grandmother Ada filled her head with fables of the family’s enchanted history in the Polish countryside. Each mother in their family has been given a daughter but each daughter has exacted an essential cost from her mother. Adrienne Celt infuses The Daughters with the spirit of the rusalka, a bewitching figure of Polish mythology that inspired Dvorák’s classic opera. A tapestry of secrets, affairs and unimaginable sacrifices, it reveals a family legacy laced with the resonant ancestral lore that binds each mother to the one who came before.Trade Review"Written in a dreamy, mystical key... Celt’s novel acknowledges the radical shift of motherhood on a lusty, dark note." -- The Guardian

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Book SynopsisLong defined by film adaptations that have portrayed Aladdin as a simplistic rags-to-riches story for children, this work of dazzling imagination—and occasionally dark themes—now comes to vibrant new life. “In the capital of one of China’s vast and wealthy kingdoms”, begins Shahrazad, there lived Aladdin, a rebellious fifteen-year-old who falls prey to a double-crossing sorcerer and is ultimately saved by a princess. One of the best-loved folktales of all time, Aladdin has been capturing the imagination of readers, illustrators and filmmakers since an eighteenth-century French publication first added the tale to The Arabian Nights. Here is an elegant, eminently readable rendition of Aladdin in what is destined to be a classic for decades to come.Trade Review"It’s not every day you come across a new translation of The Arabian Nights, but the French Syrian writer, Yasmine Seale, has rendered afresh the 18th-century version of Aladdin by Antoine Galland, and has done a cracking job..." -- Family favourites: children’s books for Christmas reviewed - The Spectator"... an elegant new version of Aladdin..." -- Times Literary Supplement"... a charming rendition of Aladdin..." -- The National

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Book SynopsisFor fifteen centuries, legends of King Arthur have inspired generations. In the misty past of a Britain under siege, half-remembered events became shrouded in ancient myth and folklore. The resulting tales were told and retold, until over time Arthur, Camelot, Avalon, the Round Table, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, Lancelot and Guinevere all became instantly recognizable icons. Along the way, Arthur's life and times were recast in the mould of the hero's journey: his miraculous conception at Tintagel through the magical intercession of his shaman guide, Merlin; the childhood deed of pulling the Sword from the Stone through which Arthur was anointed King; the Quest for the Holy Grail, the most sacred object in Christendom; the betrayal of Arthur by his wife and champion; and the apocalyptic battle between Good and Evil, ending with Arthur's journey to the Otherworld. Arthur: God and Hero in Avalon views Arthur in terms of comparative mythology, and argues that the Once and Future King remains relevant because his story speaks so eloquently about universal human needs and anxieties. The book discusses the tales of King Arthur, from the very earliest versions to the most recent film and television adaptations, and offers readers an insight into why Arthur remains so popular.

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Book SynopsisA Bridge to the Other Side is a collection of articles and traditional folk tales that deal with our feelings about and attitudes towards Death, both our own death and that of those nearest and dearest to us. A bridge between earth and heaven, this world and the next, features in the mythology of many different peoples. For example, in Norse legends, Bifrost or Bilrost is a burning rainbow bridge between Midgard, the world, and Asgard, the realm of the gods. The bridge is known as Bilrost in the Poetic Edda; compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and as Bifrost in the Prose Edda; written in the 13th century by Snorri Stureuson. Both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda alternately refer to the bridge as Asbru (Old Norse Esirs means bridge). The Persians believed in a bridge between earth and paradise too. In his prayers the penitent in his confession would say: I am wholly without doubt in the existence of the Mazdayacnian faith; in the coming of the resurrection of the latter body; in the stepping over the bridge Chinvat; as well as in the continuance of paradise.Trade ReviewThis book, which is a collection of material of different type and origin - ancient folk-tales, myths, poems, even jokes about Death concentrate on the different ways Death is represented in different cultures...after reading it one will want to think about their lives and the numbers of good deeds performed as well as look at Death with less fear! (Professor Manana Rusieshvili, Tbilisi State University, Georgia) his is a fascinating collection , and one that had a profound effect on me. M. Berman has taken folktales and articles from a wide variety of cultural traditions, and these greatly enhance the power of his book. (David Byham, President of MENSA, Geneva)

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Book SynopsisEleventh century England; life is hard. A young boy is identified as a 'wyrd one' and is sent into the forest to know the ways of the Mist. Learning that life does not work the way he had believed, he takes his first steps on a journey into understanding the purpose of his own life and the dangers inherent in a life lived without spirit. Part adventure, part fable, Mistfall in the Grove of Dreams is a story of the great Mysteries which have been taught all over the world for thousands of years, retold for our times.

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Book SynopsisAt the crossroads of nature and the human imagination, Earth is sentient, fertile, and eloquent. When ancient goddesses, outcasts, heroes, and poets speak, they speak on her behalf to reveal living myths that first enchanted sacred landscapes. Their primal stories emerge from wilderness and rise from buried libraries to jolt us awake. We meet a lone goddess battling fifty giants, a beguiling wife who is secretly a serpent, a radiant lyre about to sing her own poetry, and an ogre whose heart is his forest. When oaks and rivers call for justice, when furies and monsters counter king and plow, let us turn our ear to hear. As we listen, mythic fragments lead us from marble palaces to nymph-haunted gardens, on a quest that teems with strange immortals. Along the way, a goddess of desolation, a mistress of animals, ash tree spirits, and a trickster water god appear as guides. Primeval green wisdom emerges from abyss, forest, and borderland, hidden in myths we almost lost forever, in ancient images that say things we no longer can.

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Book SynopsisMuireann spent six months planning to kill the dragon that killed her family. Now the dragon is dead, and she's realized that it was actually the lesser threat guarding a devastating weapon that, if it falls into almost anyone's hands, will bring war and destruction to her world. It can't be left where it is. It can't be hidden. It can't be trusted in the hands of anyone in power or who seeks power. Muireann's only option becomes a reluctant quest with the elf she rescued from the dragon, a would-be knight, a selkie, and an elven mage to find out as much as she can about the weapon and seek a way to understand the magic that created it. Pursued by a dragon-worshipping cult bent on revenge and a hidden enemy that will do anything to remake the world, the five friends must try to find answers before all is lost. Muireann thought that killing a dragon was going to be impossible. Saving the world is going to be much harder.

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Book SynopsisThe Lenape tribe, also known as the Delaware Nation, lived for centuries on the land that English colonists later called New Jersey. But once America gained its independence, they were forced to move further west: to Indiana, then Missouri, and finally to the territory that became Oklahoma. These reluctant migrants were not able to carry much from their ancestral homeland, but they managed to preserve the stories that had been passed down for generations. On the Turtle’s Back is the first collection of Lenape folklore, originally compiled by anthropologist M. R. Harrington over a century ago but never published until now. In it, the Delaware share their cherished tales about the world’s creation, epic heroes, and ordinary human foibles. It features stories told to Harrington by two Lenape couples, Julius and Minnie Fouts and Charles and Susan Elkhair, who sought to officially record their legends before their language and cultural traditions died out. More recent interviews with Lenape elders are also included, as their reflections on hearing these stories as children speak to the status of the tribe and its culture today. Together, they welcome you into their rich and wondrous imaginative world. Trade ReviewExclusive Interview on All of It with Alison Stewart: "A New Collection of Lenape Folklore" * WNYC *“With On the Turtle’s Back, Camilla Townsend and Nicky Kay Michael offer a stunning edition of Lenape stories that have been told through centuries of cultural practice. They outline key historical struggles in Lenape history to contextualize the meaningfulness of the survivance of those stories. They draw together creation, big house, learning, and other stories. “Told [to] their grandchildren” gestures to a past in which Lenape cared for their stories and a future in which those stories are still meaningful. It is the book I have yearned for as a Lenape person and scholar.” -- Joanne Barker * (Lenape [Delaware Tribe of Indians]), author of Red Scare: The Empire’s Indigenous Terrorist and Nat *“On the Turtle’s Back offers an engaging and previously unpublished collection of Lenape/Delaware stories narrated in the early twentieth century. The scholarship is strong, and the research is impressive; there is no comparable volume in the field.” -- Jean R. Soderlund * author of Separate Paths: Lenapes and Colonists in West New Jersey *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction: The Storytellers’ History 1 Creation Stories The Turtle’s Back The Seven Stars The Snow and Ice Boy The Girl Who Sounds the Thunders A Snake Legend [Julius Fouts] The Disappearance of Corn [Charles Elkhair] 2 Big House Stories The Misingwe [Charles Elkhair] Vision on the Kansas River [Charles Elkhair] The Future of the Big House [Charles Elkhair and Julius Fouts] Delaware Church [Julius Fouts] 3 Culture Heroes Ball Player [Julius Fouts] The Big Fish [Charles Elkhair] Wehixamukes (Strong Man) [Charles Elkhair] 4 Humans Learning Lessons Rock-Shut-Up [Charles Elkhair] Little Masks [Julius Fouts] He Is Everywhere (Wē ma tī gŭnīs) [Julius Fouts] 5 Talking to the Dead First Cause of the Feast for the Dead [Minnie Fouts] Talking to the Dead [Susan Elkhair] Lost Boy [Charles Elkhair’s daughter?] Otter Hide [Charles Elkhair?] 6 The Coming of the Whites The Coming of the White Men [Julius Fouts] Origination of White Men [Julius Fouts] Whites & Indians [Charles Elkhair] 7 Tales of Ordinary Life A Child’s Life [Julius Fouts] The Three Clans [Julius Fouts] The Origin of Stories An Afterword in Three Parts I What Happened to the Storytellers? II Four Elders at the End of the Twentieth Century Rosetta Coffey (September 17, 1997) Pat Donnell (September 20, 1997) Joanna Nichol (October 11, 1997) Bonnie Thaxton (August 19, 1997) III Today Appendix A: The Turtle’s Back (Iroquoian and Munsee Versions) Appendix B: Dutch Arrival at Manhattan (John Heckewelder’s Version) Appendix C: The Woman Who Wanted No One (as told to Truman Michelson) Appendix D: Elected Leaders of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, ca. 1800–Present Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Lenape tribe, also known as the Delaware Nation, lived for centuries on the land that English colonists later called New Jersey. But once America gained its independence, they were forced to move further west: to Indiana, then Missouri, and finally to the territory that became Oklahoma. These reluctant migrants were not able to carry much from their ancestral homeland, but they managed to preserve the stories that had been passed down for generations. On the Turtle’s Back is the first collection of Lenape folklore, originally compiled by anthropologist M. R. Harrington over a century ago but never published until now. In it, the Delaware share their cherished tales about the world’s creation, epic heroes, and ordinary human foibles. It features stories told to Harrington by two Lenape couples, Julius and Minnie Fouts and Charles and Susan Elkhair, who sought to officially record their legends before their language and cultural traditions died out. More recent interviews with Lenape elders are also included, as their reflections on hearing these stories as children speak to the status of the tribe and its culture today. Together, they welcome you into their rich and wondrous imaginative world. Trade Review“With On the Turtle’s Back, Camilla Townsend and Nicky Kay Michael offer a stunning edition of Lenape stories that have been told through centuries of cultural practice. They outline key historical struggles in Lenape history to contextualize the meaningfulness of the survivance of those stories. They draw together creation, big house, learning, and other stories. “Told [to] their grandchildren” gestures to a past in which Lenape cared for their stories and a future in which those stories are still meaningful. It is the book I have yearned for as a Lenape person and scholar.”— Joanne Barker, (Lenape [Delaware Tribe of Indians]), author of Red Scare: The Empire’s Indigenous Terrorist and Nat Exclusive Interview on All of It with Alison Stewart: "A New Collection of Lenape Folklore"— WNYC “On the Turtle’s Back offers an engaging and previously unpublished collection of Lenape/Delaware stories narrated in the early twentieth century. The scholarship is strong, and the research is impressive; there is no comparable volume in the field.” — Jean R. Soderlund, author of Separate Paths: Lenapes and Colonists in West New JerseyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction: The Storytellers’ History 1 Creation Stories The Turtle’s Back The Seven Stars The Snow and Ice Boy The Girl Who Sounds the Thunders A Snake Legend [Julius Fouts] The Disappearance of Corn [Charles Elkhair] 2 Big House Stories The Misingwe [Charles Elkhair] Vision on the Kansas River [Charles Elkhair] The Future of the Big House [Charles Elkhair and Julius Fouts] Delaware Church [Julius Fouts] 3 Culture Heroes Ball Player [Julius Fouts] The Big Fish [Charles Elkhair] Wehixamukes (Strong Man) [Charles Elkhair] 4 Humans Learning Lessons Rock-Shut-Up [Charles Elkhair] Little Masks [Julius Fouts] He Is Everywhere (Wē ma tī gŭnīs) [Julius Fouts] 5 Talking to the Dead First Cause of the Feast for the Dead [Minnie Fouts] Talking to the Dead [Susan Elkhair] Lost Boy [Charles Elkhair’s daughter?] Otter Hide [Charles Elkhair?] 6 The Coming of the Whites The Coming of the White Men [Julius Fouts] Origination of White Men [Julius Fouts] Whites & Indians [Charles Elkhair] 7 Tales of Ordinary Life A Child’s Life [Julius Fouts] The Three Clans [Julius Fouts] The Origin of Stories An Afterword in Three Parts I What Happened to the Storytellers? II Four Elders at the End of the Twentieth Century Rosetta Coffey (September 17, 1997) Pat Donnell (September 20, 1997) Joanna Nichol (October 11, 1997) Bonnie Thaxton (August 19, 1997) III Today Appendix A: The Turtle’s Back (Iroquoian and Munsee Versions) Appendix B: Dutch Arrival at Manhattan (John Heckewelder’s Version) Appendix C: The Woman Who Wanted No One (as told to Truman Michelson) Appendix D: Elected Leaders of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, ca. 1800–Present Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFor over two thousand years, jātaka—tales of the Buddha’s previous lives—have been popular as teaching and entertainment. Apart from the classical Indian jātaka, many others in Southeast Asia were assembled in collections known as the “Fifty Jātaka” (Paññāsa Jātaka). They are now acclaimed as the lifeblood of the region’s literature. This book offers the first published English translations of twenty-one stories from the Thailand collection, including some of the best-known Thai stories: Sudhana-Manoharā, the Golden Conch, and Rathasena, among other quests, moral tales, strings of riddles, and story cycles. Here the tales are translated fully and faithfully with notes and accompanying information on the Thailand collection.

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Book SynopsisThis delightful anthology presents eighteen well-known and much-loved Vietnamese folktales. Originally collected and retold by the prize-winning author Minh Tran Huy, they are here elegantly translated by Harry Aveling. The stories tell of charming princesses, disputing brothers, powerful kings, magical animals, peculiar objects, and kindhearted genies. Their mysterious worlds stir the imagination and evoke the soul of Vietnam—its intense human relationships, its exuberance and gentle melancholy. The book will appeal to readers of all ages and cultures.

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Book SynopsisOdysseus--soldier, trickster, and everyman--is one of the most recognizable characters in world literature. His arduous, ten-year journey home after the Trojan War, the subject of Homer''s The Odyssey, is the most accessible tale to survive from ancient Greece, and its impact is still felt today across many different cultures. Barry Powell''s free verse translation preserves the clarity and simplicity of the original while conveying Odysseus'' adventures in an energetic, modern idiom. By avoiding the stylistic formality of earlier translations, and the colloquial and sometimes exaggerated effects of recent attempts, his translation deftly captures the most essential truths of this vital text. Due to his thorough familiarity with the world of Homer and Homeric language, Powell''s introduction provides rich historical and literary perspectives on the poem. This translation also includes illustrations from classical artwork, detailed maps, explanatory notes, a timeline, and a glossary. MoTrade ReviewPraise for Barry Powell's translation of The Iliad: "Magnetically readable." --Booklist, starred review "[A] clear and energetic translation.... Staying true to Homer's poetic rhythms, Powell avoids the modified iambic lines found in Lattimore's, Fagles's, and Mitchell's works. He also avoids Lombardo's tendency to cast Homer in contemporary language and Fitzgerald's anachronisms. This fine version of The Iliad has a feel for the Greek." --Library Journal "With swift, transparent language that rings both ancient and modern, Barry Powell gives readers anew all of the rage, pleasure, pathos, and humor that are Homer's Iliad--a reading experience richly illumined by the insightful commentary and plentiful images accompanying the text." --Jane Alison, author of The Love-Artist "This translation is the complete package. A lucid and accessible introduction gives a general audience what they need to appreciate the nature of this extraordinary poem, and the translation itself is admirably energetic, readable, and direct. Powell's style is individual and self-assured, and his lines cry out to be read aloud. Just as in the original, the pace never lets up and the events of that long-lost past flash by. It is a remarkable achievement, one that fully deserves to rank with any of the current contenders." --Denis Feeney, Princeton University "Barry Powell's clever translation is simple and energetic: sometimes coarse, sometimes flowing, it is always poetically engaged. He lays bare the semantic background of Homer through felicitous phrasing and delivers us a Dark-Age epic, one more suggestive of Norse sagas than the cultural milieu of archaic Ionia. Fresh and eminently readable, Powell's Iliad is likely to stay." --Margalit Finkelberg, editor of The Homer Encyclopedia "Barry Powell, the master of classical mythology, has done it again--a powerful translation of the poem that started European literature. His muscular verses are faithful to the original Greek but bring the characters to life. This is a page-turner, bound to become the new standard." --Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules--For NowTable of ContentsCONTENTS ; Foreword, by Ian Morris ; Introduction ; The Odyssey ; Notes

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Maguire (Wicked) continues his fabulist fairy tale remixes with this enchanting story, . . . Maguire parallels the swan boy’s story of brokenness to Laura’s own struggles overcoming class and cultural differences. Fans of Maguire’s retellings will love this simple, elegant story.” — Publishers Weekly “As Maguire has so often done before with books like Wicked and Mirror Mirror, A Wild Winter Swan is a delight of fantasy and the grotesquely beautiful in all of us.” — San Francisco Book Review “A comical, entertaining, heartfelt, and rare story, A Wild Winter Swan is the highbrow fairy tale your fall yearns for.” — Shondaland “Maguire, whose gift for transforming children’s stories is most famously on display in Wicked, works his magic once again with this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale 'The Wild Swans.' An enchanting, tender, often funny coming-of-age story whose perceptive truths about the human condition surprise and delight.” — Library Journal (starred review) “This is a novel that is meant to be read in a book nook with thick socks and a winter sweater. It is a very comfortable read, where moments of stress and sadness bloom into scenes of real mystery and beauty . . . A Wild Winter Swan is unlike anything I have read in a long time--in its intimacy, simplicity and welcoming solace.” — Bookreporter.com “Sensitive depictions of generational and coming-of-age conflicts intertwine with whimsy as Maguire touchingly shows how people invoke stories to help elucidate their complicated world.” — Booklist “In a masterful meld of fantasy, longing, and troublesome relationships, Maguire’s A Wild Winter Swan shows us, and its young protagonist, that heartfelt connections with other people—and with animals—can lay for us a bridge between life’s sorrows and its wonder.” — Historical Novel Society “Gregory Maguire still has the magic touch . . . Maguire tells Laura’s story in lush prose, laced with humor and poignancy, weaving the fabulous into the quotidian world. It’s a spell you’ll be happy to have cast upon you.” — Tampa Bay Times

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A decade after she flew Out of Oz in Maguire’s Wicked series, Elphaba’s granddaughter crash-lands on an island inhabited by seven sacrificial virgins. The arrival of the green-skinned teen (and her talking goose) upends their enclave. An exquisitely crafted introduction to a new fantasy trilogy.” — People “Fans will look forward to reading more about the interaction of Oz, Rain and the strange society of Maracoor.” — Wall Street Journal “Wonderful attention to detail. . . . [Maguire] does excellent character work. . . . The larger world of Maracoor Abiding . . . has echoes of Greek mythology and looks to be fertile ground as a setting for more books. An expertly crafted introduction to a new series of magic and adventure.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “The Brides of Maracoor once again shows Maguire’s rich, mesmerizing world building, full of small, frustrating human absurdities. . . . It also shows off his gift for crafting compelling characters. . . . It’s an intriguing, witty start to a fantastical proposed trilogy.” — Booklist “With its rich character development and a healthy dash of Maguire’s humor, this latest Oz tale is as satisfying a read as the Wicked Years quartet.” — Buzzfeed “[A] complex, enticing fantasy. . . . Maguire cleverly teases out the characters’ motivation and desires, turning what at first appears to be a straightforward tale into a gripping page-turner. Fans will revel in this triumphant return to the world of Wicked.” — Publishers Weekly “Sharp and wry, funny and pointed, [Maguire] writes in Brides with a certainty and a sort of world-sized elegance, creating something new from scraps of the cloth he worked for years. He remains a master of a specific sense of intimacy amid scale, able to craft precise moments of fallibility, of humans picking our way through our lives, against the fate of nations and the endless sea.” — Tor.com “Amazing novel.” — John Updike “Maguire’s work is melodic, symphonic and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. . . . In fabulous details and self-mocking language, Maguire displays his gift for whimsical portrayals of the broken, the powerless, the hopeless, the bad.” — Los Angeles Times on A Lion Among Men “[A] masterwork…. Concludes…one of the most audacious and successful fantasy series of the past few decades…. Hilarious, heart-wrenching and extremely poignant…. The greatest fantasy series make one want to read them again. That’s what I intend to do with this one.” — Washington Post on Out of Oz “In four books, Maguire has expanded the mythology of Oz from L. Frank Baum’s books and created a land that’s just as rich as Middle-earth or Narnia, and balances the serious with the sublime. . . . Out of Oz is a satisfying finish to the Wicked Years saga.” — USA Today on Out of Oz “[A] sassy reimagining of Baum’s world. . . . Maguire’s canvas is incredibly rich. . . . This last installment is one to savor.” — People (4 stars) on Out of Oz

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