Stars and Keys

Description

"In Stars and Keys: Folktales and Creolization in the Indian Ocean, Lee Haring introduces readers to the rich folklore traditions of five islands: Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion, and the Comoros. These multicultural islands blend together traditions from Africa, South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Their folktales reflect this cultural diversity and provide a rare opportunity to observe the fluidity of traditions and the changes that result when people are obliged to confront each other's cultures and languages." "Stars and Keys contains over a hundred stories and commentaries, but this is not the standard folktale collection. During thirty years of work in the region, Haring has developed an innovative mode of presentation' one that gives readers a more complete experience of the tales. His style is conversational as he translates each storyteller's words and explains their significance. Rather than relegating key background information to footnotes or postponing it until long after it is needed, he plays the role of a storyteller, stopping from time to time to interject what a reader needs to know to understand a particular phrase or action. In this study of folklore traditions, Haring demonstrates that the history of slavery and exploitation in the Southwest Indian Ocean has made recognizable plots and characters into new works, which couldn't be predicted in terms of their "parent" sources."--BOOK JACKET.

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