San Antonio College Library

Publisher's description: This two-volume collection of folktales represents some of the finest examples of American oral tradition. Drawn from the largest archive of American folk culture, The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the first-of-its-kind set includes magic tales, legends, jokes, tall tales, and personal narratives -- over 200 in all, many of which have never been previously transcribed or published. Eminent folklorist...

In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. The city is a shell of the Beirut Osama remembers, but he and his friends and family take solace in the things that have always sustained them: gossip, laughter, and, above all, stories. Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching stories--of his arrival in Lebanon, an orphan of the Turkish wars, and of how he...

Each chapter begins with a tale that bears wisdom, from as far away as China, India, the Middle East, and even the mystical land of Chelm. And each reflects questions we face in our own lives, from the search for truth to ways of coping with loss. Sometimes the lessons come in the form of riddles. How does standing closer to death bring us closer to life? Is it possible that a blessing may be a curse and that a curse may truly be a blessing? Does...

Includes Jack the trickster, boo-bags and plat-eyes, ghosts, and singing turtles, an enchanting and entertaining collection of tales, culminating from the author.

"In one sense a folklorist's portrayal of a folk artist's life and art, Listening for a Life is equally a rethinking of the processes involved in such work, not only in how the folklorist conveys her subject but in how her subject constitutes and performs herself into being through dialogue with others: those present, those once present, those imagined and anticipated. Drawing on Bahktinian and feminist theory, Sawin pushes forward our understanding...

In 1960s Oxford, Professor Henry Lytten is attempting to write a fantasy novel that forgoes the magic of his predecessors, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. He finds an unlikely confidante in his quick-witted, inquisitive young neighbor Rosie. One day, while chasing Lytten's cat, Rosie encounters a doorway in his cellar. She steps through and finds herself in an idyllic, pastoral land where Storytellers are revered above all others. There she meets a...

Explores the life of the unconventional author and entrepreneur, examining the era in which he lived and its influence on his work.