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Cranky ladies of history
By Garth Nix, Kathleen Jennings, Tehani Wessely, Tansy Rayner Roberts. 2015
This collection of twenty-two stories features an array of women challenging conventional wisdom about appropriate female behavior throughout history. The…
protagonists include both the iconic and all-but-forgotten. Authors include, among others, Garth Nix, Jane Yolen, Liz Barr, Kirstyn McDermott, and Foz Meadows. 2015Chinese mythology: an introduction
By Anne M. Birrell. 1999
English translations of some three hundred representative myths from more than one hundred classical Chinese texts. Selections are grouped thematically…
covering topics such as creation, gods, divine birth, love, heroes, the natural world, and immortality. Includes introduction and explanatory notes analyzing the context and significance of each narrative. 1993At her majesty's request: an African princess in Victorian England
By Walter Dean Myers. 1999
The life of an African princess who was about to be killed in a ritual sacrifice in 1850 when she…
was rescued by Commander Forbes, taken to England, and presented to Queen Victoria as Sarah Forbes Bonetta. The queen became Sarah's protector and godmother to her first child. For grades 5-8From the beast to the blonde: on fairy tales and their tellers
By Marina Warner. 1995
Although most familiar fairy tales were documented by men, the author points out that it was women storytellers who passed…
down the "old wives' tales" and their morals. The cultural and historic roles of these storytellers are presented with a feminist perspective. The book also examines recurrent themes and symbolism in familiar tales, such as the beast/man and the damsel with blond hairSongs my mother sang to me: an oral history of Mexican American women
By Patricia Preciado Martin. 1992
The author recorded interviews with ten Mexican American women born near the beginning of the twentieth century, edited the results,…
and compiled them into this detailed narrative of life along the Arizona border. Their stories generally chronicle a rural start, steeped in family and religious traditions, followed by a move to an urban centerSamantha rastles the woman question
By Marietta Holley, Jane Curry. 1983
A contemporary of Mark Twain, Holley was famous in her day and often compared to him. Samantha "rastles" with questions…
concerning history's treatment of women, the need for women's suffrage, women and the church, social status, role assumptions, and more. Of course, many of her sage observations still resonate for us. Adult. UnratedTalking to the enemy: stories
By Avner Mandelman. 2005
Nine stories about the Israeli experience. In "Terror" a father beats the son who fails to stand up for his…
five-year-old brother, thus instilling the precept that, right or wrong, family comes first, even before justice or fear. Strong language and some violence. Sophie Brody Medal. 2005The witch of the Monongahela: folk magic in early Western Pennsylvania
By Thomas White. 2020
In the ancient hills and misty hollows of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, generations of locals have passed down stories of a…
woman with mysterious magical powers. People came from near and far to seek healing and protection through her strange rituals. Some even believed she could fly. Named Moll Derry and nicknamed the Witch of the Monongahela, her legend has been documented by writers and folklorists for more than two hundred years. She is intertwined in many regional tales, such as the Lost Children of the Alleghenies and Polly Williams and the White Rocks. Author Thomas White separates fact from fiction in the many versions of Moll Derry and recounts Western Pennsylvania's folk magic history along the way. 2020. Some violenceBattles, Betrayals, and Brotherhood: Early Chinese Plays on the Three Kingdoms
By Wilt L. Idema, Stephen H. West. 2005
No cycle of historical legends has enjoyed greater or more enduring popularity in China than that of the Three Kingdoms,…
which recounts the dramatic story of the civil wars (c. AD 180-220) that divided the old Han empire into the Shu-Han, Wei, and Wu states, and the eventual reunification of the realm under the Western Jin in AD 280.Divine Stories
By Andy Rotman. 2008
Divine Stories is the inaugural volume in a landmark translation series devoted to making the wealth of classical Indian Buddhism…
accessible to modern readers. The stories here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimate liberation. Originally contained in the Divyavadana, an enormous compendium of Sanskrit Buddhist narratives from the early Common Era, the stories in this collection express the moral and ethical impulses of Indian Buddhist thought and are a testament to the historical and social power of narrative. Long believed by followers to be the actual words of the Buddha himself, these divine stories are without a doubt some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism.Counterfeiter and Other Stories
By Yasushi Inoue. 2000
In The Counterfeiter, a writer is commissioned to write the biography of a famous painter but becomes fascinated by a…
man who produced forgeries of the artist's work. Obasute concerns a man's obsession with a legend of old women being taken to a mountain and abandoned, and his interpretation of the actions of the members of his family in light of this legend. The Full Moon is a story of company politics, particularly the rise and fall of the firm's president, told largely through incidents at annual company parties.Little Labors
By Rivka Galchen. 2016
Rivka Galchen's Little Labors is a droll and dazzling compendium of observations, stories, lists, and brief essays about babies and…
literature Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book--a key inspiration for Rivka Galchen's new book--contains a list of "Things That Make One Nervous." And wouldn't the blessed event top almost anyone's list? Little Labors is a slanted, enchanted literary miscellany. Varying in length from just a sentence or paragraph to a several-page story or essay, Galchen's puzzle pieces assemble into a shining, unpredictable, mordant picture of the ordinary-extraordinary nature of babies and literature. Anecdotal or analytic, each part opens up an odd and tender world of wonder. The 47 Ronin; the black magic of maternal love; babies morphing from pumas to chickens; the quasi-repellent concept of "women writers"; origami-ophilia in Oklahoma as a gateway drug to a lifelong obsession with Japan; discussions of favorite passages from the Heian masterpieces Genji and The Pillow Book; the frightening prevalence of orange as today's new chic color for baby gifts; Frankenstein as a sort of baby; babies gold mines; babies as tiny Godzillas ... Little Labors-atomized and exploratory, conceptually byzantine and freshly forthright-delights.Subject to Change
By Renee Rodin. 2010
Composed of autobiographical stories that sketch the resonant heights and depths of a memoir, Subject to Change is a series…
of portraits along the road of a life well-lived. These stories are articulate, intelligent, passionate records of how encounters with others have changed and shaped the humanity, character and community - the "subject" - of the writer.The Walls of Delhi
By Jason Grunebaum, Uday Prakash. 2012
A street sweeper discovers a cache of black market money and escapes to see the Taj Mahal with his underage…
mistress; an Untouchable races to reclaim his life that's been stolen by an upper-caste identity thief; a slum baby's head gets bigger and bigger as he gets smarter and smarter, while his family tries to find a cure. One of India's most original and audacious writers, Uday Prakash, weaves three tales of living and surviving in today's globalized India. In his stories, Prakash portrays realities about caste and class with an authenticity absent in most English-language fiction about South Asia. Sharply political but free of heavy handedness.Once a Peacock, Once an Actress: Twenty-Four Lives of the Bodhisattva from Haribhatta's "Jatakamala"
By Peter Khoroche, Haribhatta. 2017
Written in Kashmir around 400 CE, Haribhatta’s Jåtakamåla is a remarkable example of classical Sanskrit literature in a mixture of…
prose and verse that for centuries was known only in its Tibetan translation. But between 1973 and 2004 a large portion of the Sanskrit original was rediscovered in a number of anonymous manuscripts. With this volume Peter Khoroche offers the most complete translation to date, making almost 80 percent of the work available in English. Haribhatta’s Jåtakamålå is a sophisticated and personal adaptation of popular stories, mostly non-Buddhist in origin, all illustrating the future Buddha’s single-minded devotion to the good of all creatures, and his desire, no matter what his incarnation—man, woman, peacock, elephant, merchant, or king—to assist others on the path to nirvana. Haribhatta’s insight into human and animal behavior, his astonishing eye for the details of landscape, and his fine descriptive powers together make this a unique record of everyday life in ancient India as well as a powerful statement of Buddhist ethics. This translation will be a landmark in the study of Buddhism and of the culture of ancient India.Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend, with Related Texts
By Wilt L. Idema, Shiamin Kwa. 2010
The legend of Mulan--the daughter who disguises herself as a man, dons her father's armor, and heads off to war…
in his place--remains one of the most popular Chinese folktales despite (or because of) its lack of supernatural demonstrations or interventions.This volume offers lively translations of the earliest recorded version of the legend and several later iterations of the tale (including the screenplay of the hugely successful 1939 Chinese film Mulan Joins the Army), illustrating the many ways that reinterpretations of this basic story reflect centuries of changes in Chinese cultural, political, and sexual attitudes.An Introduction traces the evolution of the Mulan legend and its significance in the history of Chinese popular culture. Annotation explaining terms and references unfamiliar to Western readers, a glossary, and a comprehensive bibliography further enhance the value of this volume for both scholars and students.Still Life and Other Stories
By Wayne P. Lammers, Junzo Shono. 1992
"Shono conveys both intimacy and distance, tranquility and tension, as he explores the shifting relations between husband and wife, father…
and son, brother and sister." -Publishers Weekly"These stories are so artful... they seem like the artless productions of life itself." -Kenyon College Book Review -- Kenyon College Book Review"This collection should be sipped and savored like warm sake." -Small PressWinner of the Pen Center West Award, this delicate collection of thirteen linked tales reveals the flow of daily life in the modern Japanese family. Junzo Shono's artful layering of commonplace events, images, and conversations has been compared to haiku poetry crossed with an Ozu film.Spiritual Stories from India
By Chaman Lal. 1964
"India is the home of fables," says Mr. Lal in his preface to the book. "When God made the world,…
He gave many virtues to different nations. To India He gave wisdom as a special gift....The Stories presented in this book are full of wisdom. They illustrate what miracles can be wrought by faith in God. They tell us what we can learn from nature. What tolerance and love can bring to humanity....Tales of the Samurai: More Samurai Tales Of The Tokugawa Ii
By James S. de Benneville. 1986
A young lord undertakes the restoration of his family's fortunes and honor in this gripping retelling of a 15th-century Japanese…
epic. Gripping and evocative, it recounts the rebellions, plots, and battles that culminate in a vendetta's thrilling resolution. James S. de Benneville's Western-style narrative offers an exceptionally faithful retelling. 44 black-and-white illustrations.Indian Fairy Tales
By Joseph Jacobs. 2009
Soils and national characteristics differ, but fairy tales are the same in plot and incidents the world over. So proved…
the leading British folklorist Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) with this now classic volume of 29 traditional tales from India, including some of the oldest recorded tales known."The Lion and the Crane," "How the Raja's Son Won the Princess Labam," "The Broken Pot," "The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal," "The Talkative Tortoise," "The Ass in the Lion's Skin," "Why the Fish Laughed," "Sun, Moon, and Wind Go Out to Dinner," "The Prince and the Fakir," and all the other stories make delightful reading or listening for youngsters who are tired of the same familiar old favorites. John D. Batten's nine full-page plates and his 37 other drawings are reproduced from the original edition.