First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, this comparative study of a selection of The Arabian Nights stories in a cross-cultural context, brings together a number of disciplines and subject areas to examine the workings of narrative. It predominantly focuses on the ways in which the Arabian Nights have transformed as its stories have travelled across historical eras, cultures, genres and media. Departing from the familiar approaches of influence and textual studies, this book locates its central inquiry in the theoretical questions surrounding the workings of ideology, genre and genre ideology in shaping and transforming stories. The ten essays included in this volume respond to a general question, what can the transformation of Nights stories in their travels tell us about narrative and storytelling, and their function in a particular culture?

Following a Nights story in its travels from past to present, from Middle East to Europe and from literature to film, the book engages in close comparative analyses of ideological variations found in a variety of texts. These analyses allow new modes of reading texts and make it possible to breach new horizons for thinking about narrative.

This Book was previously published as a special issue of Middle Eastern Literatures entitled Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons: New Perspectives on Arabian Nights.

Rosslyn Chapel, eight miles south of Edinburgh, has captured the imagination of many in recent years. This extraordinary building, dating from the fifteenth century, has long been a place of pilgrimage for people with widely differing interests, whether historical, architectural or spiritual. P.L. Snow has for many years been gathering the stories that are represented by the numerous carvings inside and outside the chapel building. Many of the carvings, eroded by the years or damaged by vandalism during the Reformation, have been lovingly restored over time. They are eloquent illustrations of the biblical, historical and legendary tales that they represent. This book traces themes of transformation and metamorphosis through inward endeavour, and will be fascinating for anyone interested in stories from the beginnings of the world, Ancient Egypt, the Holy Land, Celtic myth and Scottish history.

To primitive man the whisper and movement of leaves and the silent unfolding of flowers were proofs of life and power, and their regeneration was a promise of nature's continuity. Cures, magic, divination and portents were all connected with the rich variety of available plant life, especially in verdant Britain. Some of these beliefs were astonishingly long-lasting and, even if an altered or faded form, have survived the sophistications of modern life, as this book sets out to show. This volume is arranged in alphabetical order and is illustrated with engravings from old herbals.'

Step into a magical world of fanciful characters, animals, and landscapes that will delight adult coloring fans of fairy tales, landscapes, and whimsical drawings. Inspired by fairy tales and magical realism, artist Renata Krawczyk has created illustrations that will delight fans of coloring intricate scenes of fantasy and wonder. The beautiful drawings include such charming scenes as cottages adorned with fairy lights, delicate flowers, paper sailboats, tiny teacups, toadstools, hot-air balloons, unicorns, and more.

Originally published in 1923, the following papers contain the results of investigations concerning religion and custom in Borneo and the Malay Peninsula, which were carried out at intervals during the years 1910 to 1921 by the author. It includes chapters on the customs and beliefs of the 'Orangdusun', beliefs and customs of the Sakai, and Malay folk-tales.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Myths are the expression of a form of knowledge essential to life. Including mainly previously unpublished work by A.M. Hocart the book examines such issues as: Why a queen should not have been married before; why a guest is sacred; why people are believed to have been turned into stone; how money originated. These issues are considered as part of a socio-religious complex embraced in many parts of the world, both East and West. (There are chapters on the UK, India, Sri Lanka, Africa, Fiji, Egypt, and Ancient Greece).

This is Volume XVI of sixteen of the Oriental series looking at Buddhism. Initially published in 1906, this book presents a collection of Tibetan stories connected to Buddhism, taken from Indian sources and translated from the Kah-gyur and are Tibetan versions of Sanskrit writings.

Monsters, ghosts, fantastic beings, and supernatural phenomena of all sorts haunt the folklore and popular culture of Japan. Broadly labeled "yokai," these creatures come in infinite shapes and sizes, from "tengu" mountain goblins and "kappa" water spirits to shape-shifting foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Currently popular in anime, manga, film, and computer games, many yokai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories.
Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, readers will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries, some with original illustrations, on more than fifty individual creatures. "The Book of Yokai" provides a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its ever-expanding influence within global popular culture. It invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them. By exploring yokai as a concept, we can better understand broader processes of tradition, innovation, storytelling, and individual and communal creativity.

Joseph Campbell was the world's greatest authority on myth, his monumental four-volume The Masks of God is a definitive work on the subject, and in Myths to Live By he explores how these enduring myths still influence our daily lives and can provide personal meaning in our lives. Myths are a way of explaining the cosmos, the origin of life and Man's relationship with their environment; they play a cohesive role in society. Joseph Campbell analyses myth in psychoanalytic terms to reveal their essential qualities and to demonstrate how they continue to reflect human needs, providing reassurance even in today's world. Ranging from Zen koans and Indian aesthetics to walking on the moon, Joseph Campbell explores how myth and religion follow the same archetypes, which are not exclusive to any single race, religion or region. Campbell believed that all religion is a search for the same transcendent and fundamental spiritual truths. He shows how we must recognise the common denominators between differing myths and faiths and allow this knowledge to fulfil human potential everywhere.

National myths are now seriously questioned in a number of societies. In the West, for instance, a number of factors have combined to destabilise the symbolic foundation of nations and collective identities. As a result, the diagnosis of a deep cultural crisis has become commonplace. Indeed, who today has not heard about the erosion of common values or the undermining of social cohesion? But to efficiently address this issue, do we know enough about the nature and role of myths in modern and postmodern societies? Against this background, National Myths: Constructed Pasts, Contested Presents relies on a sample of nations from around the world and seeks to highlight the functioning of national myths, both as representations that make sense of a collectivity, and as socially grounded tools used in a web of power relations. The collection draws together contributions from international experts to examine the present state of national myths, and their fate in today's rapidly-changing society. Can - or must - nations do without the sort of overarching symbolic configurations that national myths provide? If so, how to rethink the fabrics and the future of our societies? This book will appeal to students and scholars interested in sociology, national, identity and memory studies, myths, shared beliefs, or collective imaginaries.

This is a mixture of folk-tale, magic, myth, love story and hymn of praise to the natural world of Scotland's high and low lands, their landscapes and creatures, and the poet-guardians who timelessly maintain their care for them. It is the legend-story of the mysterious Wanderer, who comes from the North to Striveling (Stirling) and its great Castle Rock, and the tales he tells to the five men and a woman who befriend him there. Who is this Wanderer, who seems ageless, who has profound affinities with animals and birds, who can take on the shape of swans and what is his mission to the South? Who are these friends, whose friendship becomes more, as they begin to realize that they are part of the strange, timeless and mythic destiny of a country older than civilization? What is the meaning of the unearthly love of the Wanderer and the mysterious Bella?

This cutting-edge volume demonstrates both the literary quality and the socio-economic importance of works on "the matter of the greenwood" over a long chronological period. These include drama texts, prose literature and novels (among them, children's literature), and poetry. Whilst some of these are anonymous, others are by acknowledged canonical writers such as William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and John Keats. The editors and the contributors argue that it is vitally important to include Robin Hood texts in the canon of English literary works, because of the high quality of many of these texts, and because of their significance in the development of English literature.

Monstrous Tales is a collection of traditional folktales about bewitching and bloodthirsty creatures.

Translated and transcribed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these tales celebrate the diversity of―and surprising resonances among―folklore traditions around the world.

Welcome to a world of magical adventure: a mysterious wolf pursues a bridegroom through a dark forest, a princess is trapped in a monster's body, and a dragon is coming with a storm in its wake.

• The tales come alive alongside spellbinding contemporary art by Chinese illustrator Sija Hong.
• Each story transports readers to a different enthralling world.
• Part of the popular Tales series, featuring Tales of Japan, Celtic Tales, and Tales of India

As readers roam from Japan to Nigeria and Ireland to Guyana, they'll witness deadly pacts, heroic feats, and otherworldly journeys.

Features tales from Australia, China, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Sioux Nation, Guyana, Iceland, India, Inuit Nunangat, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Philippines, Pueblo of Isleta, Scotland, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine.

• A special illustrated edition, complete with an embossed, textured case and a ribbon marker
• Perfect gift for fairy tale and folklore lovers, fans of monsters and creatures, collectors of illustrated classics, adults and teens alike, and bibliophiles
• A visually gorgeous book that will be at home on the shelf or on the coffee table
• Great for those who enjoyed books like Through the Woods by Emily Carroll; The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures by Aaron Mahnke; and Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose

Originally published in 1996, this book is a study of two of the central themes of medieval German mythology, the Dietrich and Nibelung legends. It traces its two legendary topics form their historical roots during the last centuries of the Roman Empire to the medieval texts that make them known to us. Many of the medieval texts have never been translated into English or even modern German. A synopsis of each work is therefore included so that the reader can form an idea of the content of the works in question. The book takes a text-oriented approach. The book includes a chronological chart which puts most of the texts and literary works discussed in a European and world context.

This book contains 175 tales drawn equally from the ancient and modern periods of Korea, plus 16 further tales provided for comparative purposes. Nothing else on this scale or depth is available in any western language. Three broad classes of material are included: foundation myths of ancient states and clans, ancient folktales and legends, modern folktales. Each narrative contains information on its source and provenance, and on its folklore type, similarities to folklore types from China, Japan and elsewhere.

Anteros: A Forgotten Myth explores how the myth of Anteros disappears and reappears throughout the centuries, from classical Athens to the present day, and looks at how the myth challenges the work of Freud, Lacan, and Jung, among others. It examines the successive cultural experiences that formed and inform the myth and also how the myth sheds light on individual human experience and the psychoanalytic process.

Topics of discussion include:

• Anteros in the Italian Renaissance, the French Enlightenment and English Modernism
• psychologizing Anteros: Freud, Lacan, Girard, and Jung
• three anterotic moments in a consulting room.

This book presents an important argument at the boundaries of the disciplines of analytical psychology, psychoanalysis, art history, and mythology. It will therefore be essential reading for all analytical psychologists and psychoanalysts as well as art historians and those with an interest in the meeting of psychoanalytic thought and mythology.

There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero.aHis story has many more episodes than those of other heroes, concerning his life and death as well as his battles with myriad monsters and other opponents.aIn literature, he appears in our earliest Greek epic and lyric poetry, is reinvented for the tragic and comic stage, and later finds his way into such unlikely areas as philosophical writing and love poetry.? In art, his exploits are amongst the earliest identifiable mythological scenes, and his easily-recognisable figure with lionskin and club was a familiar sight throughout antiquity in sculpture, vase-painting and other media.aHe was held up as an ancestor and role-model for both Greek and Roman rulers, and widely worshipped as a god, his unusual status as a hero-god being reinforced by the story of his apotheosis.aOften referred to by his Roman name Hercules, he has continued to fascinate writers and artists right up to the present day.

In Herakles, Emma Stafford has successfully tackled the OCyHerculean taskOCO of surveying both the ancient sources and the extensive modern scholarship in order to present a hugely accessible account of this important mythical figure.aCovering both Greek and Roman material, the book highlights areas of consensus and dissent, indicating avenues for further study on both details and broader issues.aEasy to read, Herakles is perfectly suited to students of classics and related disciplines, and of interest to anyone looking for an insight into ancient GreeceOCOs most popular hero.

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