The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon: Siberian Folk Tales

by James Riordan

Overview

Siberia. From this strange and beautiful land comes an oral tradition that has altered little in two thousand years. Here is a true spiritual democracy and purity of folk art rarely found in traditional tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623718817
Publisher:	Interlink Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Series:	International Folk Tales
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

James Riordan has traveled the world collecting folktales and has published over thirty volumes of tales from different countries. He is emeritus professor at the University of Surrey and visiting professor at the University of Worcester, as well as holding honorary degrees from Birmingham, London, Moscow, and Grenoble. He regularly reviews children s books for the Times. He has also written ten novels for young people. He resides in London, England.

Editorial Reviews

The book is a fascinating introduction to the oral literature of Siberia's diverse people and is recommended to folklorists, cultural historians, and general readers...

Small Press

Another collection of folk tales from Interlink. The two collections of Siberian folktales in Books in Print are both scholarly and expensive. In his new collection, Riordan provides an extensive ethnographic introduction, a glossary, and a (half-Russian) bibliography but little discussion of the specific tales included and no data on their collection. The tales themselves are polished without being too ``literary.'' There are familiar types (e.g., hero and etiological tales) and themes (e.g., condemnation of human foolishness, greed, and selfishness). Most striking, though, are the qualities that bring these stories to the border of myth: the vividness of the spirit world, pervasive animism, and interaction with divine beings. The extreme physical setting, especially the frozen tundra, adds to the exotic and memorable atmosphere of the book. Even without the high current interest in the USSR and its peoples, this collection is a fascinating cultural resource.-- Patricia Dooley, Univ. of Washington Lib. Sch., Seattle

Library Journal