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Loading... Popol Vuhby Quiché Maya
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I had NO idea what I was getting into with this. My fifteen-year-old had read about this book when he was researching some project for school, so when he saw it at the bookstore he got excited and said we should read it for family story time. Obviously I said yes. So this is a verse translation of the Mayan epic origin story. Did I get absolutely stressed about probably mispronouncing ever single name in the story, despite how many times I looked them up? Yes. Did I have a surprising amount of fun reading mythic poetry out loud anyway? Absolutely yes! And the rest of the family enjoyed it, too! The Popol Vuh is a grand mytho-historical cycle, a reflection of an oral history, as told by the K’iche’, one branch of the Mayan peoples. The cycle starts with a creation myth and then continues with the Gods’ repeated failures to create humans, a series of Trickster Twins and their exploits among the Gods and in the underworld of Xibalba, the eventual creation of humans, and an increasingly historical listing of Mayan and allied communities and leaders, down to the eventual Conquest by the Spanish. For anyone familiar with other grand mythological cycles (Greek, Norse, Hebrew), these stories follow a familiar pattern: a deep time that is highly allegorical and full of symbolism and larger-than-life heroes, and that becomes progressively anchored in history as the material approaches the present. As such the Popol Vuh reads like a distinctively Native-American variation on a familiar theme: a standardized history of the people, whose cultural practices have roots in deep time and the forces that shape the universe. Good stuff! The edition I read was prepared and translated by Dennis Tedlock, and it is doubtlessly awe-inspiring. While the text is presented as a smooth, nicely-flowing narrative, the endnotes (whose pagecount surpasses that of the actual Popol Vuh) make apparent the translation difficulties and the cultural references, and provide insight in many of these items’ history in previous editions. Tedlock defends his editorial choices, compares editions and includes the necessary cultural background for an audience of laypeople and specialists. The whole thing must have been a massive undertaking, and Tedlock’s scrupulousness is admirable. An exemplary edition of a fascinating cultural narrative belonging to a civilization now conquered and largely erased. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesThe Civilization of the American Indian Series (volume 29) Τα Κείμενα των Λαών (018) Has the adaptationIs abridged inInspired
Popol Vuh, the Quiché Mayan book of creation, is not only the most important text in the native languages of the Americas, it is also an extraordinary document of the human imagination. It begins with the deeds of Mayan gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and ends with the radiant splendor of the Mayan lords who founded the Quiché kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands. Originally written in Mayan hieroglyphs, it was transcribed into the Roman alphabet in the sixteenth century. This new edition of Dennis Tedlock's unabridged, widely praised translation includes new notes and commentary, newly translated passages, newly deciphered hieroglyphs, and over forty new illustrations. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)299.784Religions Other Religions By Region/Civilization Of North American Origin Of Particular Peoples and Cultures MesoamericanLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. University of Texas PressAn edition of this book was published by University of Texas Press. |
All jokes aside, I originally read the human creation story and watched an analysis video about this for a class, and was struck by how the historians referred to this as the craziest mythology they had read, and thought that couldn't possibly be true.
Believe me, they weren't joking. Recall the amazing summary I threw out at the beginning of this review, and know that that is only the beginning.
For a bit of context, the Popol Vuh is both a compilation of Mayan history and mythology. It wasn't recorded until the Spanish came and decided the best way to destroy Mayan culture would be to write down their most important book, which is wild considering that is the sole reason why we still have these stories today.
If you've ever liked mythology (Percy Jackson fans I'm looking at you) and don't need it to be spoon fed to you through a fictionalized plot, give this book a chance. You'll thank me later when you're trying to explain to your loved ones why you shouldn't blindly reach into trees if it seems like they are talking to you, and that we really should be more wary of dentists. ( )