Penick Douglas J.
Penick Douglas J. - The Oceans Of Cruelty: Twenty - Five Tales Of A Corpse - Spirit A Retelling - Paperback
Penick Douglas J. - The Oceans Of Cruelty: Twenty - Five Tales Of A Corpse - Spirit A Retelling - Paperback
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Description: A new haunting unexpectedly relevant rendering of an ancient Indian short story collection by a contemporary author and Buddhist practitioner. The twenty - five tales included in The Oceans of Cruelty constitute one of the oldest collections of stories in the world a book that offers both a set of uncanny unsettling and unforgettable narratives and a profound meditation on what weird thing it is that drives us to tell and to listen to stories. Tales of the Vetala is one of the names under which these stories have made their way from ancient India to the world at large a Vetala being a corpse - spirit and the frame story to the collection as a whole tells of a young king who bears the burden of a double spell. He has fallen under the power of a sorcerer whose demand is that he fetch to him a Vetala to be his servant and he has fallen under the power of the Vetala itself. Like a bat the Vetala roosts upside down in the branches of a tree and night after night the king is driven to take it down and bear it on his back to the burial ground where once laid to rest it will fall into the sorcerer's hands. Night after night king and spirit make their way from tree to burial ground and as they do the spirit whispers a riddling story in the king's ear. If the king knows the answer to the riddle he must tell it; as soon as he tells it the spirit flies back to the tree. Thus story follows story the king's labors continue and neither he nor the spirit finds rest. Only when the king has no idea what the answer to the riddle may be when he is unable at last to respond to the story at all will his obligation to the sorcerer be fulfilled and will he be set free though when that comes to pass well that's when the whole story takes a new turn. Within this framework The Oceans of Cruelty unfolds a suite of tales of suicidal passion clever deceit patriarchal oppression obligatory self - sacrifice changing bodies and narrow escapes from death. Here are all the passions and here is the play of appearance and desire from which stories are drawn and that make us come back hungry for story wondering how will the story end and when at last will we be done with all those stories? Douglas Penick's recreation of this ancient work brings out all its humor and horror and vitality as well its unmistakeable relevance in a world of stories gone viral.
Title: The Oceans Of Cruelty: Twenty - Five Tales Of A Corpse - Spirit A Retelling
Author(s): Penick Douglas J.
Publisher: The New York Review Of Books Inc
Barcode: 9781681377667
Pages: 200 Pages
Publication Date: 10/1/2024
Category: Myth & Legend Told As Fiction
Description: A new haunting unexpectedly relevant rendering of an ancient Indian short story collection by a contemporary author and Buddhist practitioner. The twenty - five tales included in The Oceans of Cruelty constitute one of the oldest collections of stories in the world a book that offers both a set of uncanny unsettling and unforgettable narratives and a profound meditation on what weird thing it is that drives us to tell and to listen to stories. Tales of the Vetala is one of the names under which these stories have made their way from ancient India to the world at large a Vetala being a corpse - spirit and the frame story to the collection as a whole tells of a young king who bears the burden of a double spell. He has fallen under the power of a sorcerer whose demand is that he fetch to him a Vetala to be his servant and he has fallen under the power of the Vetala itself. Like a bat the Vetala roosts upside down in the branches of a tree and night after night the king is driven to take it down and bear it on his back to the burial ground where once laid to rest it will fall into the sorcerer's hands. Night after night king and spirit make their way from tree to burial ground and as they do the spirit whispers a riddling story in the king's ear. If the king knows the answer to the riddle he must tell it; as soon as he tells it the spirit flies back to the tree. Thus story follows story the king's labors continue and neither he nor the spirit finds rest. Only when the king has no idea what the answer to the riddle may be when he is unable at last to respond to the story at all will his obligation to the sorcerer be fulfilled and will he be set free though when that comes to pass well that's when the whole story takes a new turn. Within this framework The Oceans of Cruelty unfolds a suite of tales of suicidal passion clever deceit patriarchal oppression obligatory self - sacrifice changing bodies and narrow escapes from death. Here are all the passions and here is the play of appearance and desire from which stories are drawn and that make us come back hungry for story wondering how will the story end and when at last will we be done with all those stories? Douglas Penick's recreation of this ancient work brings out all its humor and horror and vitality as well its unmistakeable relevance in a world of stories gone viral.
Title: The Oceans Of Cruelty: Twenty - Five Tales Of A Corpse - Spirit A Retelling
Author(s): Penick Douglas J.
Publisher: The New York Review Of Books Inc
Barcode: 9781681377667
Pages: 200 Pages
Publication Date: 10/1/2024
Category: Myth & Legend Told As Fiction
