Book description…
“This book is a brief but thorough introduction to folklore from South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The volume begins with an overview of the cultural background of South Asia, and examines different types of folklore and the difficulties of defining and classifying folklore genres. It then provides a substantial selection of legends, tales, myths, riddles, jokes, and other pieces of folklore from South Asia. This is followed by a look at research on the subject, along with an exploration of South Asian folklore in literature and popular culture. The volume closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources”
My thoughts…
Why do so many academics insist on sucking the life out of their subject matter? I know that folklore is the new kid on the social science block and has a lot to prove, but really…
To be fair, the book is only doing its job: introducing readers to this area of scholarship. But I’m a woman on a mission, so I skipped the brainy stuff and plucked out only the first-person stories.
I read about a poetry game that would be fun to try at home. Called anmil in Urdu, it dates from the thirteenth century. The players have to string unrelated words into a single, cohesive idea.
Before: “Dog,” “pudding,” “spinning wheel” and “drum”
After: “Baked the pudding by burning the wood of a spinning wheel. A dog came and ate the pudding. Now you have nothing to do, but beat the drum.”
Well, that one is a bit of a stretch, but there’s entertainment potential here.
