®ÜNGTIO|ß JSBkES, ffifflß, W IMS The newest addition to Pantheon s “splendid folklore series.’’ — The Washington Post FOLKTALES FROM INDIA A Selection of Oral Tales from Twenty-two Languages Edited and With an Introduction hy A.K. Ramanujan
These 110 tales from India’s magnificent oral tradition — ranging from Bengali to Kashmiri — provide a richly diverse glimpse of Indian culture through the ages. Illustrated throughout with original line drawings.
Edited hy a master storyteller... Marvelous... a provocative world a marvelous collection of wit, wisdom of wily and witty grandmothers, and humor in folktales from twenty- wives, pandits, fools and beasts. two languages and as many —Barbara Stoler Miller, different regions. Milbanh Professor of Asian — Milton B. Singer, Cultures, Barnard College Paul Klapper Professor of the Unparalleled in its scope of Social Sciences, sources...infused with the University of author s unique sense of Chicago and sense of beauty.” Erdman —Wendy Doniger, author of Women, Joan of Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts courtesy scroll, storyteller's
Rajasthani from
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Bi-Annual Volumes of New Writing
Edited by Bradford Morrow
Contributing Editors Walter Abish John Ashbery Mei-mei Berssenbrugge Guy Davenport Elizabeth Frank William H. Gass Susan Howe Kenneth Irby Robert Kelly Ann Lauterbach Patrick McGrath Nathaniel Tarn Quincy Troupe John Edgar Wideman
Bard College distributed by Random House, Inc. EDITOR: Bradford Morrow MANAGING EDITOR: Dale Cotton SENIOR EDITORS: Susan Bell, Martine Bellen, Karen Kelly, Kate Norment ART EDITOR: Anthony McCall ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Eric Darton, Marlene Hennessy, Yannick Murphy EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Patrick Doud, Jonathan Miller, Cathleen Shattuck CONJUNCTIONS is published in the Spring and Fall of each year by Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. This issue is made possible in part with the generous funding of the Lannan Foundation and New York State Council on the Arts. Editorial communications should be sent to 33 West 9th Street, New York NY, 10011. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Distributed by Random House. Copyright © 1992 CONJUNCTIONS Cover art by Bill Traylor. Courtesy Hirschl & Adler Modern. Cover design by Anthony McCall Associates, New York SUBSCRIPTIONS. Send subscription order to CONJUNCTIONS, Box 115, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. Single year (two volumes): $18.00 for individuals, $25.00 for institutions and overseas. Two years (four volumes): $32.00 for individuals; $45.00 for institutions and overseas. Patron subscription (lifetime): $500.00. Overseas subscribers please make payment by International Money Order. Back issues available at $10.00 per copy. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or trans mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in cluding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Printers: Edwards Brothers. Typesetter: Bill White, Typeworks. ISSN 0278-2324 ISBN 0-679-74051-1 Manufactured in the United States of America. OF CONTENTS
FABLES, YARNS, FAIRY TALES EDITOR'S NOTE...... 7 Rosario Ferré, Three Tales from Puerto Rico (translated from the Spanish by the author) ...... 9 Norman Manea, Tale of the Enchanted Pig (translated from the Romanian by Marguerite Dorian and Elliott Urdang).... 18 James Purdy, Kitty Blue...... 24 Lydia Davis, Five Dark Tales...... 42 Can Xue, Two Stories (translated from the Chinese by Jian Zhang and Ronald Janssen) ...... 47 John Ash, Zho-Jan...... 59 Grozdana Olujic, The Bewitched Burr and Other Tales (translated from the Serbo-Croatian by Jascha Kessler and the author)...... 67 Diana Hartog, A Fish Story...... 79 Jacques Roubaud, Three Tales from the Tale Known as the Princess Hoppy or the Labrador Tale (translated from the French by Bernard Hoepffner)...... 81 Gary Indiana, The Black Angel ...... 115 Diane Ackerman, Complaint on Her Cat...... 121 David Rattray, How I Became One of the Invisible (with a sketch-map by the author) ...... 122 Three Folktales from India (collected and translated from the Tamil and the Malayalam by A.K. Ramanujan)...... 131 Kurt Schwitters, Four Bear Songs (translated from the German by Jerome Rothenberg)...... 138 Forrest Gander, Kuzma and the Worm...... 140 Joanna Scott, Convicta et Combusta...... 142 Scott Bradfield, The Parakeet and the Cat ...... 153 Fanny Howe, The Reduction of the Nativity ...... 166 Liudmila Petrushevskaya, The Rose and Other Fairy Tales (translated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell)...... 168 James Laughlin, Eight Parables and Poems...... 173 Lynne Tillman, Madame Realism: A Fairy Tale (with illustrations by Silvia Kolbowski)...... 178 Sally Pont, Ich Liebe Dich and Other Lies Too Hideous to Utter...... 187 Jerome Rothenberg, The Lorca Variations: "Lunar Grapefruits”...... 198 Dennis Tedlock, Three Maidens at the Bath...... 203 O.V. de L. Milosz, Two Lithuanian Fairy Tales (translated from the French by Edouard Roditi)...... 217 Wendy Walker, The Children of Montjoie...... 228 Mary Egan, Two Tales...... 236 Paola Capriolo, The Woman of Stone (translated from the Italian by Lawrence Venuti) ...... 239 Patrick McGrath, OMalley and Schwartz...... 157 William T. Vollmann, The Butterfly Girl...... 261 Paul West, Rupert Killamarsh’s Other Life (with illustrations by Joe Servello)...... 266 Russell Edson, The Pig Story...... 275 Yannick Murphy, Snowbird and Other Tales...... 277 Robert Antoni, My Grandmother’s Story of the Buried Treasure and How She Defeated the King of Chacachacari and the Entire American Army with Her Venus-Flytraps...... 281 Theodore Enslin, Mete...... 301 Armand Schwerner, The aD ...... 317 Four Folktales from Nigeria (collected and translated from the Igbo by Romanus Egudu)...... 323 Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Daughter...... 332 Charles Wartts, Jr., Papa Will...... 333 Patricia Eakins, R’ha-l’a R’a-H’oum...... 339 Bradford Morrow, The Channah Tales...... 345 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS...... 368 George Robert MinkofF, Ine.
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