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Original Essays | April 29, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNOther titles in the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series:The Cloak of Dreams: Chinese Fairy Tales (Oddly Modern Fairy Tales)by Bela Balazs
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:"A splendid modern work. . . . What baroque dreams, grotesque scenes, ghostly, ridiculous, strange, and chilling brainstorms!. . . All of this is remarkable, original, and uncanny. . . . I recommend that readers go and find some good time to spend with this beautiful book."--Thomas Mann
"Flirting with aestheticism and exoticism, Béla Balázs's fairy tales draw their power from an oracular voice that traces paths of desire, dread, rapture, and sorrow. A master stylist, Balázs puts us in touch with the sublime through velvety prose that mimics the brush strokes of master calligraphers. Jack Zipes's introduction tells its own fascinating tale about how a Hungarian writer and intellectual found redemption in fairy tales."--Maria Tatar, author of Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood
"These fairy tales are wonderful, touching, and fantastic--you can feel the giddy liberty Balázs gave himself in writing them. I enthusiastically recommend them to anyone who can still feel the pleasure of being kidnapped by fantasy and being taken away to a land that is both vividly colored and intellectually curious. The collection is a delight and Jack Zipes's introduction is splendid."--Andrei Codrescu, author of The Posthuman Dada Guide
"This translation of what Thomas Mann called a 'beautiful book' will enchant readers. Balázs creates a world of dreams in which the alienation of man from woman and soul from body is imaginatively overcome."--Lee Congdon, James Madison University
"A poet in many genres--verse, drama, short stories, tales, novels, diaries, memoirs, philosophy, films, and film theory--Béla Balázs was one of the great dreamers of Hungary's sensational fin-de-siècle generation. His long journey from Szeged, Hungary led him through Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, and Moscow, and back to Budapest. These Chinese fairy tales reflect Balázs's wisdom, his powers of visual imagery, psychological insight, and playfulness."--Tibor Frank, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
"An astonishing find that deserves to be brought to light. The translations are beautifully poetic and a joy to read."--Anton Kaes, University of California, Berkeley
"These wonderful and bizarre tales are at once complex and simple. I found myself rereading several and discovering each time some new and wondrous twist and detail."--Nora M. Alter, Temple University Synopsis:"A splendid modern work. . . . What baroque dreams, grotesque scenes, ghostly, ridiculous, strange, and chilling brainstorms!. . . All of this is remarkable, original, and uncanny. . . . I recommend that readers go and find some good time to spend with this beautiful book."--Thomas Mann
"Flirting with aestheticism and exoticism, Béla Balázs's fairy tales draw their power from an oracular voice that traces paths of desire, dread, rapture, and sorrow. A master stylist, Balázs puts us in touch with the sublime through velvety prose that mimics the brush strokes of master calligraphers. Jack Zipes's introduction tells its own fascinating tale about how a Hungarian writer and intellectual found redemption in fairy tales."--Maria Tatar, author of Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood "These fairy tales are wonderful, touching, and fantastic--you can feel the giddy liberty Balázs gave himself in writing them. I enthusiastically recommend them to anyone who can still feel the pleasure of being kidnapped by fantasy and being taken away to a land that is both vividly colored and intellectually curious. The collection is a delight and Jack Zipes's introduction is splendid."--Andrei Codrescu, author of The Posthuman Dada Guide "This translation of what Thomas Mann called a 'beautiful book' will enchant readers. Balázs creates a world of dreams in which the alienation of man from woman and soul from body is imaginatively overcome."--Lee Congdon, James Madison University "A poet in many genres--verse, drama, short stories, tales, novels, diaries, memoirs, philosophy, films, and film theory--Béla Balázs was one of the great dreamers of Hungary's sensational fin-de-siècle generation. His long journey from Szeged, Hungary led him through Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, and Moscow, and back to Budapest. These Chinese fairy tales reflect Balázs's wisdom, his powers of visual imagery, psychological insight, and playfulness."--Tibor Frank, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest "An astonishing find that deserves to be brought to light. The translations are beautifully poetic and a joy to read."--Anton Kaes, University of California, Berkeley "These wonderful and bizarre tales are at once complex and simple. I found myself rereading several and discovering each time some new and wondrous twist and detail."--Nora M. Alter, Temple University Synopsis:A man is changed into a flea and must bring his future parents together in order to become human again. A woman convinces a river god to cure her sick son, but the remedy has mixed consequences. A young man must choose whether to be close to his wife's soul or body. And two deaf mutes transcend their physical existence in the garden of dreams. Strange and fantastical, these fairy tales of Béla Balázs (1884-1949), Hungarian writer, film critic, and famous librettist of Bluebeard's Castle, reflect his profound interest in friendship, alienation, and Taoist philosophy. Translated and introduced by Jack Zipes, one of the world's leading authorities on fairy tales, The Cloak of Dreams brings together sixteen of Balázs's unique and haunting stories.
Written in 1921, these fairy tales were originally published with twenty images drawn in the Chinese style by painter Mariette Lydis, and this new edition includes a selection of Lydis's brilliant illustrations. Together, the tales and pictures accentuate the motifs and themes that run throughout Balázs's work: wandering protagonists, mysterious woods and mountains, solitude, and magical transformation. His fairy tales express our deepest desires and the hope that, even in the midst of tragedy, we can transcend our difficulties and forge our own destinies. Unusual, wondrous fairy tales that examine the world's cruelties and twists of fate, The Cloak of Dreams will entertain, startle, and intrigue. About the AuthorJack Zipes is the translator of "The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm" (Bantam), the editor of "The Great Fairy Tale Tradition" (Norton), and the author of "Why Fairy Tales Stick", among many other books. He is professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
B?la Bal?zs, the Homeless Wanderer, or, The Man Who Sought to Become One with the World 1 A Note on the Mysterious Illustrator Mariette Lydis 58 THE CLOAK OF DREAMS Chapter 1: The Cloak of Dreams 65 Der Mantel der Tr?ume Chapter 2: Li-Tai-Pe and the Thief 70 Li-Tai-Pe und der Dieb Chapter 3: The Parasols 74 Die Sonnenschirme Chapter 4: The Clumsy God 80 Der ungeschickte Gott Chapter 5: The Opium Smokers 86 Die Opiumraucher Chapter 6: The Flea 90 Der Floh Chapter 7: The Old Child 95 Das alte Kind Chapter 8: The Robbers of Divine Power 104 Die Gottesr?uber Chapter 9: Li-Tai-Pe and Springtime 109 Li-Tai-Pe und der Fr?hling Chapter 10: The Ancestors 114 Die Ahnen Chapter 11: The Moon Fish 119 Der Mondfisch Chapter 12: The Friends 123 Die Freunde Chapter 13: The Revenge of the Chestnut Tree 133 Die Rache des Kastanienbaumes Chapter 14: Tearful Gaze 139 Tr?nenblick Chapter 15: The Clay Child 145 Das Lehmkind Chapter 16: The Victor 150 Der Sieger Appendix A: A Beautiful Book by Thomas Mann 155 Appendix B: The Book of Wan Hu-Chen by B?la Bal?zs 159 Bibliography 173 What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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