Afanas'ev, Aleksandr - Myths and Legends of Russia

Published Place London
PublisherFolio Society
Published Year 2009
EditionFirst Thus
Inventory number142209
ISBN No ISBN available
Weight1500 g

Description

Near Fine Hardback. Very small scratch on top left front cover near spine. No inscriptions or bookplates. Near Fine slipcase. Minor scuff marks on all sides. Small white mark near front edge. Scuff marks on front and back. Quarter-bound in leather with cloth sides, printed and blocked with a design by Niroot Puttapipat. lIlustrated by Niroot Puttapipat. Frontispiece and 15 pen and ink illustrations. 10 x 6.75 ins, 512 pages. Tsars and maidens, witches and wizards, enchanted castles and vampire lairs, orphans and fools, sorceresses and talking animals: these are the stuff of Russian legend. Woe betide the treacherous wife, the greedy merchant or the jealous stepmother � for, like the best fairy tales, these are merciless fables of revenge and regret. But there is also love, honesty and beauty in plenty. Rich and glorious, these tales take us to the very heart of Russian culture. In the 6th century, migrants set out from Central Asia to settle on the western shores of the Black Sea and thence spread into Poland, the Baltic, Russia and the Ukraine. With them they took their gods, heroes, spirits and monsters, which became the uniquely Russian characters we know today. Here is the Firebird with its feathers of glowing embers (the inspiration for Stravinsky's Firebird Suite), the Snow Maiden and the ghoulish Baba Yaga the perennial terror of Russian children, with her chicken-legged house and garden full of bones. Aleksandr Afanas'ev collected and published over 600 Russian fairy tales and folktales, of which some 170 are gathered here in Norbert Guterman's lively translation, effortlessly demonstrating Afanas'ev's claim to be one of the greatest Russian folklorist of all time. As Roman Jakobson remarked: Without these tales a Russian child's bookshelf is incomplete. Please see our other listings for more Folio Society items.

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