Japanese Tales Author: Royall Tyler | Language: English | ISBN:
B004G606KS | Format: PDF
Japanese Tales 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.
From the Trade Paperback edition.- File Size: 2791 KB
- Print Length: 404 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0375714510
- Publisher: Pantheon; Reissue edition (August 22, 2012)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004G606KS
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,241 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #19
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales > Folklore - #40
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American - #98
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Folklore & Mythology
- #19
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales > Folklore - #40
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American - #98
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Folklore & Mythology
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.
By Merrily Baird
Overall, the book a very good general introduction to Japanese folk tales and mythology. The book is aimed at giving just enough information to orient the reader in Japanese culture, and then letting the tales do the rest of the telling. This is both good and bad. It puts the various stories deservedly at the center, but it also leaves the backround very undeveloped for use in research. People looking for a good reference book might want to search elsewhere. People looking for some really entertaining stories will find them here.
By A Customer
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