Description
With tales from the tribal peoples of Greenland, Canada, Siberia, Alaska, Japan, and the polar region, told and retold during months-long winter nights, Northern Tales gathers together a rich diversity of traditions and cultures, spanning the Way-Back Time through the coming of the first white explorers. By turns tragic and comic, fantastic and earthy, frivolous and profound, this collection transports the reader to the haunting, little-known world of the far North, with all its fragile majesty and power.
This collection transports the reader to the haunting, little-known world of the far North, with all its fragile majesty and power
About the Author
Howard Norman is the author of numerous books, most recently Devotion, In Fond Remembrance of Me, and The Bird Artist. He was twice a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction and has received a Lannan Literary Award, three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and the Harold Morton Landon Prize in translation from the Academy of American Poets. He is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Reviews
"Fascinating... [Norman] provides excellent background for each tale... [A] superb book." Washington Times "What gives these tales vibrancy is that they are ... so full of struggle and celebration within the mind of nature." Boston Globe "A brief introduction before each type of traditional tale reflects the tribal and cultural concerns as well as the diversity of people who are deeply involved in and influenced by natural phenomena, animals, shamans, and the supernatural. Through humor and fantasy as well as earthy wisdom, the tale-tellers point out that 'stories are not just about living things, they are living things.' Through this book, a way of life is revealed and preserved." School Library Journal
Book Information
ISBN 9780803218796
Author Howard Norman
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of Nebraska Press
Publisher University of Nebraska Press
This collection transports the reader to the haunting, little-known world of the far North, with all its fragile majesty and power
About the Author
Howard Norman is the author of numerous books, most recently Devotion, In Fond Remembrance of Me, and The Bird Artist. He was twice a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction and has received a Lannan Literary Award, three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and the Harold Morton Landon Prize in translation from the Academy of American Poets. He is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Reviews
"Fascinating... [Norman] provides excellent background for each tale... [A] superb book." Washington Times "What gives these tales vibrancy is that they are ... so full of struggle and celebration within the mind of nature." Boston Globe "A brief introduction before each type of traditional tale reflects the tribal and cultural concerns as well as the diversity of people who are deeply involved in and influenced by natural phenomena, animals, shamans, and the supernatural. Through humor and fantasy as well as earthy wisdom, the tale-tellers point out that 'stories are not just about living things, they are living things.' Through this book, a way of life is revealed and preserved." School Library Journal
Book Information
ISBN 9780803218796
Author Howard Norman
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of Nebraska Press
Publisher University of Nebraska Press
