Syrian poet Samir Tahhan collected folktales from old men sitting
outside their houses in Aleppo, drinking tea. Afraid these stories
would disappear with the passing of this generation, Tahhan also
went to halls and events to hear professional storytellers and
record their performances. Anthropologist Andrea Rugh helped
translate the resulting two volumes of stories from the original
Arabic and wrote the informative introduction to this one-volume
collection.
Some of the tales appeared in rhyming verse in Arabic and some
were based on events that are said to have actually taken place in
Aleppo. Rugh explains the concepts of the most popular types of
Syrian story structures: the gissa, the hikaya, and the hudutha.
With two of the poems, the Arabic and the English are shown side by
side in order to demonstrate the internal poetic structures of the
original rhymes.
With their emphasis on morality and social values, the tales
will be familiar to Western audiences. Another value for the reader
is finding the accepted social values and behaviors that Arab
adults try to inculcate in their younger generation, often through
complex characterizations. Teasing out these meanings gives the
reader an appreciation for the act of translation and hints of the
power of the Arabic language in prose and poetry.
Professional illustrator Douglas Rugh has provided the book's
black-and-white prints based on the stories and his experiences as
a child growing up in the Middle East.
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