Synopses & Reviews
These 130 articles explore mythologies in societies from India to Japan. Among the many topics are Buddhist and Hindu symbolic systems, myth in pre-Islamic Iran, Indonesian rites of passage, Chinese cosmology and demons, and Japanese conceptions of the afterlife and the "vital spirit." The mythological traditions of Turkey, Korea, Tibet, and Mongolia are also included.
"The almost 100 contributors combine, with characteristic precision and andeacute;lan, the arts of science and poetry, of analysis and translation. The result is a treasury of information, brilliant guesswork, witty asides, and revealing digressions. This is a work of genuine and enduring excitement."and#8212;Thomas D'Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor
About the Author
Yves Bonnefoy is a poet, critic, and professor emeritus of comparative poetics at the Collège de France. In addition to poetry and literary criticism, he has published numerous works of art history and translated into French several of Shakespeare's plays.Wendy Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School and a professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition, by Wendy Doniger
Preface to the English Edition of the Complete Work, by Wendy Doniger
Preface to the French Edition of the Complete Work, by Yves Bonnefoy
Contributors
Part 1: Introduction: The Interpretation of Mythology
Part 2: South Asia, Iran, and Buddhism
Part 3: Southeast Asia
Part 4: East Asia and Inner Asia
Index