Recent volumes

FF Network 23,
April 2002: 28

 

Stuart Blackburn 2001: Moral Fictions. Tamil Folktales from Oral TraditionFFC 278

Stuart Blackburn 2001:
Moral Fictions. Tamil Folktales from Oral Tradition.
Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (Academia Scientiarum Fennica).
338 pp.

ISBN (hard) 951-41-0880-9
ISBN (soft) 951-41-0881-7

Hard € 33
Soft € 29

Is fantasy the defining element in fairy tales? This question is the starting point for Stuart Blackburn’s study of Tamil oral tales. Having collected over 300 tales, 100 of which are translated in this book, he concludes that although fantasy, and humour, are present, at the core of the tales lies a moral vision in which wrongdoing, especially physical cruelty, is punished. Only the second full-lenght study of Indian tales from oral tradition, this book places the Tamil tradition in an international context, describes the telling sessions and includes tellers’ interpretations of some tales.