Myths and Legends of the Australian AboriginesFor many of their campfire tales, the aboriginal people of Australia looked to the skies, where they found a twinkling text of morals and stories within their own version of the zodiac. Today, the starry birds, fishes, and dancing men that provided a backdrop to life Down Under for thousands of years have found a new popularity beyond Australia. With this colorful compilation of oral traditions, readers can savor the tales as they were told by their aboriginal narrators. Footnotes throughout the text clarify occasional obscurities, providing background on aboriginal life and customs as the need for explanation arises. For the most part, however, the author allows the myths to speak for themselves, without any attempt to support or disprove anthropological theories. The myths range in nature and tone from reverent recountings of the origins of the world and human life, to legends about the roots of religious and social customs, to fanciful and humorous animal fables. Unabridged republication of Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, Ballantyne Press-Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd., London, n.d., ca. 1930. Index. 63 black-and-white illustrations. |
Comentarios de la gente - Escribir un comentario
This book was actually a series of myths & legends, tales & real stories collected by the ancAu [ancient Australian] man on our $50 bank-note. David Unaipon. William Ramsay Smith [Dr.] stole the manuscript, took it to England & published under his own name. The theft was discovered by 2 Ozzie researchers in the 80s, & the rights given back to Unaipon's family.
This book's contents was actually written by our own David Unaipon - Australia's Leonardo Da-Vinci - and the Aboriginal man on our $50 note. William Ramsay Smith was an English Dr in our early years, who took Unaipon's work and claimed it as his own by publishing in England. Around 1998 researchers from an Aussie university discovered the theft and arranged for the copyright and ownership to be legally transferred back to Uniapon's family in Australia.
Unaipon felt his people's stories and culture would be lost and so travelled around mots of southern Australia around 1900 and gathered the stories in the book. It is a great read and not surprisingly for many indigenous Australians, tells of the belief in the Great Spirit with tenet's exactly the same as most of the major religions in the world - all prior to Christianity coming to Australia.
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Términos y frases comunes
Información bibliográfica
| Título | Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines Dover Books on Anthropology, Folklore and Myths |
| Autor | W. Ramsay Smith |
| Edición | ilustrada, reimpresa |
| Editor | Courier Corporation, 2003 |
| ISBN | 0486427099, 9780486427096 |
| Largo | 355 páginas |
| Exportar cita | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |