The Mahabharata - lire.boitam.eu

Pas de couverture — R.K. Narayan: The Mahabharata (2013, University of Chicago Press)

Langue : English

Publié 25 décembre 2013 par University of Chicago Press.

ISBN :: 978-0-226-05747-7

(1 critique)

The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full text in their homes, fearing that doing so would invite a disastrous fate upon their house. Covering everything from creation to destruction, this ancient poem remains an indelible part of Hindu culture and a landmark in ancient literature.

Centuries of listeners and readers have been drawn to The Mahabharata, which began as disparate oral ballads and grew into a sprawling epic. The modern version is famously long, and at more than 1.8 million words—seven times the combined lengths of the Iliad and Odyssey—it can be incredibly daunting.

But contemporary readers have a much more accessible entry point to this important work, thanks to R. K. Narayan’s masterful, elegant translation and abridgement of the poem. Now with a new foreword by Wendy Doniger, as well as a concise character and place …

The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full text in their homes, fearing that doing so would invite a disastrous fate upon their house. Covering everything from creation to destruction, this ancient poem remains an indelible part of Hindu culture and a landmark in ancient literature.

Centuries of listeners and readers have been drawn to The Mahabharata, which began as disparate oral ballads and grew into a sprawling epic. The modern version is famously long, and at more than 1.8 million words—seven times the combined lengths of the Iliad and Odyssey—it can be incredibly daunting.

But contemporary readers have a much more accessible entry point to this important work, thanks to R. K. Narayan’s masterful, elegant translation and abridgement of the poem. Now with a new foreword by Wendy Doniger, as well as a concise character and place guide and a family tree, The Mahabharata is ready for a new generation of readers. Narayan ably distills a tale that is both traditional and constantly changing. He draws from both scholarly analysis and creative interpretation and vividly fuses the spiritual with the secular. Through this balance he has produced a translation that is not only clear, but graceful, one that stands as its own story as much as an adaptation of a larger work.

2 editions

Sean Bala reviewed The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan

Review of 'Mahabharata' on 'Goodreads'

5 étoiles

The Mahabharata is one of the two main epics of Indian civilization (the other is the Ramayana). These two epics are part of the cultural lingua franca of Indian society - the characters, ideas, and situations inform so much about how Indians think and go about their lives. It is also the source of the Bhagvad Gita, considered by many to be the central religious text of Hinduism (a debatable notion that I don't have time to get into here but generally, the text holds a special place in modern India). The narrative follows the war between the Pandavas and the Kuruvas, two families who embody good and evil in the world, respectively. Though the Pandava's are destined to triumph over their cousins the Kuruvas, the course of victory is not smooth and is littered with shadows and moral ambiguity.

The stories are timeless and worth experiencing. However, the Mahabharata …

The Mahabharata is one of the two main epics of Indian civilization (the other is the Ramayana). These two epics are part of the cultural lingua franca of Indian society - the characters, ideas, and situations inform so much about how Indians think and go about their lives. It is also the source of the Bhagvad Gita, considered by many to be the central religious text of Hinduism (a debatable notion that I don't have time to get into here but generally, the text holds a special place in modern India). The narrative follows the war between the Pandavas and the Kuruvas, two families who embody good and evil in the world, respectively. Though the Pandava's are destined to triumph over their cousins the Kuruvas, the course of victory is not smooth and is littered with shadows and moral ambiguity.

The stories are timeless and worth experiencing. However, the Mahabharata is also the longest epic poem ever written, with some versions having over 20 volumes. How lucky we are to have R.K Narayan's "The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic." In less than 200 pages, one of modern India's best authors distills the essence of the story into a readable and deeply moving work. It is a true testament to Narayan's strengths a writer. The story is moving and the philosophy deeply provoking, all of which come through Naryana's concise retelling. It is worth reading as one of the pillars of World Literature and a window into one of the world's great civilizations.

Sujets

Fiction, religious

Listes

Understanding India and Southeast Asia