I Thought My Father was God [paperback] Paul Auster [Jan 01, 2001]

"If there is one genre that has captured the imagination of people in all walks of life throughout the world, it is the fairy tale. Yet we still have great difficulty understanding how it originated, evolved, and spread--or why so many people cannot resist its appeal, no matter how it changes or what form it takes. In this book, renowned fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes presents a provocative new theory about why fairy tales were created and retold--and why they became such an indelible and infinitely adaptable part of cultures around the world. Drawing on cognitive science, evolutionary theory, anthropology, psychology, literary theory, and other fields, Zipes presents a nuanced argument about how fairy tales originated in ancient oral cultures, how they evolved through the rise of literary culture and print, and how, in our own time, they continue to change through their adaptation in an ever-growing variety of media. In making his case, Zipes considers a wide range of fascinating examples, including fairy tales told, collected, and written by women in the nineteenth century; Catherine Breillat's film adaptation of Perrault's "Bluebeard"; and contemporary fairy-tale drawings, paintings, sculptures, and photographs that critique canonical print versions. While we may never be able to fully explain fairy tales, The Irresistible Fairy Tale provides a powerful theory of how and why they evolved--and why we still use them to make meaning of our lives."--Jacket.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

first edition of 1945, dustwrapper.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

In this lively and intellectually engaging book, Galit Hasan-Rokem shows that religion is shaped not only in the halls of theological disputation and institutions of divine study, but also in ordinary events of everyday life. Common aspects of human relations offer a major source for the symbols of religious texts and rituals of late antique Judaism as well as its partner in narrative dialogues, early Christianity, Hasan-Rokem argues. Focusing on the "neighborhood" of the Galilee that is the birthplace of many major religious and cultural developments, this book brings to life the riddles, parables, and folktales passed down in Rabbinic stories from the first half of the first millennium of the Common Era.

In this important study Ernst Cassirer analyzes the non-rational thought processes that go to make up culture. He demonstrates that beneath both language and myth there lies an unconscious "grammar" of experience, whose categories and canons are not those of logical thought. He shows that this prelogical "logic" is not merely an undeveloped state of rationality, but something basically different, and that this archaic mode of thought still has enormous power over even our most rigorous thought, in language, poetry and myth. The author analyzes brilliantly such seemingly diverse (yet related) phenomena as the metaphysics of the Bhagavat Gita, the Melanesian concept of Mana, the Naturphilosophie of Schelling, modern poetry, Ancient Egyptian religion, and symbolic logic. He covers a vast range of material that is all too often neglected in studies of human thought. These six essays are of great interest to the student of philosophy or the philosophy of science, the historian, or the anthropologist. They are also remarkably timely for students of literature, what with the enormous emphasis placed upon "myth" in modern literary speculation. This book is not superficial speculation by a dabbler, but a penetrating study by one of the most profound and sensitive philosophic minds of our time.

" ... not a large book, but that makes all the more admirable the way the author succeeds in doing justice to so many of the most important subjects in folkloristics. This book is a key work, and should be made compulsory reading in every university in which folkloristics is studied." --Jon Hnefill Aoalsteinsson, Asian Folklore Studies "With this book Alan Dundes has once again demonstrated what a brilliant essayist he is: learned, thought-provoking and entertaining. He has much inspiration to give to anthropologists, and he is quite indispensable to folklore scholarship." --Bengt af Klintberg, Ethnos "If there were still a question whether Alan Dundes is America's leading folklorist, then the essays in this volume ... should dispel it once and for all. An internationally acclaimed scholar is at work here, for whom foUclore really matters in all of its varied aspects." --Wolfgang Mieder, University of Vennont "A maverick folklorist, Alan Dundes challenges his colleagues and readers with erudition and candor. His essays are insightful and entertaining, exploring folklore with an amazing breadth. " --Dan Ben-Amos, University of Pennsylvania "As always, a reader is dazzled by the range of Dundes erudition. He doesn't just cite things, he digests them."-Gary Alan Fine, University of Minnesota "For over two decades, he has been a major voice urging folklorists (and historians and literary critics, for that manner) to move beyond mere description to true interpretation of cultural texts in their contexts. These essays continue that message, and they do so with fresh power." --Jay Mechling, University of California, Davis "These recent essays from the pen of a passionate folklorist include two classics on the history of the field. The Fabrication of 'Fakelore' and The Anthropologist and the Comparative Method in Folklore' are required reading for anyone seriously interested in folklore as a discipline." --Barbara Kirshenblan-Gimblett, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

Following Tradition is an expansive examination of the history of tradition—"one of the most common as well as most contested terms in English language usage"—in Americans' thinking and discourse about culture. Tradition in use becomes problematic because of "its multiple meanings and its conceptual softness." As a term and a concept, it has been important in the development of all scholarly fields that study American culture. Folklore, history, American studies, anthropology, cultural studies, and others assign different value and meaning to tradition. It is a frequent point of reference in popular discourse concerning everything from politics to lifestyles to sports and entertainment. Politicians and social advocates appeal to it as prima facie evidence of the worth of their causes. Entertainment and other media mass produce it, or at least a facsimile of it. In a society that frequently seeks to reinvent itself, tradition as a cultural anchor to be reverenced or rejected is an essential, if elusive, concept. Simon Bronner's wide net captures the historical, rhetorical, philosophical, and psychological dimensions of tradition. As he notes, he has written a book "about an American tradition—arguing about it." His elucidation of those arguments makes fascinating and thoughtful reading. An essential text for folklorists, Following Tradition will be a valuable reference as well for historians and anthropologists; students of American studies, popular culture, and cultural studies; and anyone interested in the continuing place of tradition in American culture.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Le livre intitul����� ""Proverbes Abyssins"" a �����t����� �����crit par Jacques Faitlovitch en 1907. Il s'agit d'un recueil de proverbes et de dictons traditionnels de l'�����thiopie, �����galement connue sous le nom d'Abyssinie. Ces proverbes sont pr�����sent�����s en amharique, la langue officielle de l'�����thiopie, ainsi qu'en fran�����ais. Le livre est divis����� en deux parties. La premi�����re partie est consacr�����e ������ une introduction ������ la culture et ������ la langue amharique, ainsi qu'������ une pr�����sentation de la m�����thodologie utilis�����e pour collecter les proverbes. La seconde partie est compos�����e des proverbes eux-m������mes, qui sont class�����s par th�����mes tels que la sagesse, l'amiti�����, l'amour, la vie et la mort. Le livre est consid�����r����� comme une contribution importante ������ la compr�����hension de la culture �����thiopienne et de la langue amharique, ainsi qu'������ la pr�����servation de la tradition orale de l'�����thiopie. Il est �����galement un t�����moignage de l'int�����r������t de Faitlovitch pour les cultures africaines et son engagement en faveur de leur pr�����servation.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Down North, The Book of Cape Breton's Magazine by Ronald (Editor) Caplan (Author) – January 1, 1991 Breton Books [241pg including index Paperback 10x8.75z0.75in]

The first fifteen pages of this learned study are the ones of chief interest to students of the classics. In the Memoirs of the Four Worthies or Lords of the Liang Dynasty , written by Chang Yüe (667-730 A.D.), a story is told about an island in the Western Sea (Mediterranean) where there is an inaccessible ravine in which precious stones lie. The inhabitants throw flesh into this ravine. Birds pick up the flesh in their beaks and as they fly, they drop the precious stones. The men of the country are clever workers of gems, which are called Fu-lin after the name of the country. Fu-lin is the Chinese name for some part of the Roman Empire, probably Syria. A legend similar in all its essential features is found in Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia in Cyprus in the fourth century. Dr. Laufer points out the close likeness of this legend to the story of the Arabians and their curious method of obtaining cinnamon told by Herodotus iii. 111, and to a somewhat similar tale in Pliny N.H. xxxviii. 33, but prudently refrains from attempting to link them closely. The source of the legend he finds in the Hellenistic Orient. To one already impressed with the fact that Hellenistic artistic motives influenced early Chinese and even Japanese art in a marked degree, the thesis is in itself reasonable, and Dr. Laufer's proofs are convincing. There are two further points of interest in this study for the classicist and archaeologist. The author is convinced (pp. 42-46) that the adamas of the ancients was actually the diamond, but concludes that ancient gem-workers did not understand the process of cutting and polishing diamonds to add to their luster (pp. 46-50). The study contains other information which will be attractive chiefly to Sinologists and to those interested in the history of the diamond. In this pamphlet Dr. Laufer has presented another useful link of the broken chain of evidence which connects Hellenistic-Roman civilization with the Far East. Curiously enough the classical archaeologist and the classicist seem to regard the evidence upon this new sphere of Greek influence either with suspicion or with apathy. - Classical Philology [1918]

This biographical lexicon contains detailed information on medical professionals in Kurland (now part of Latvia) over a period of 75 years. It includes medical men of all kinds, physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.