Download The Last Storytellers Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton Barnaby Rogerson Books
Download As PDF : The Last Storytellers Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton Barnaby Rogerson Books
Marrakech is the heart and lifeblood of Morocco's ancient storytelling tradition. For nearly a thousand years, storytellers have gathered in the Jemaa el Fna, the legendary square of the city, to recount ancient folktales and fables to rapt audiences. But this unique chain of oral tradition that has passed seamlessly from generation to generation is teetering on the brink of extinction. The competing distractions of television, movies and the internet have drawn the crowds away from the storytellers and few have the desire to learn the stories and continue their legacy. Richard Hamilton has witnessed at first hand the death throes of this rich and captivating tradition and, in the labyrinth of the Marrakech medina, has tracked down the last few remaining storytellers, recording stories that are replete with the mysteries and beauty of the Maghreb.
Download The Last Storytellers Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton Barnaby Rogerson Books
"Fascinating collection of traditional Moroccan tales, each one more enchanting than the last. I couldn't put the book down, and am ready to start reading it again."
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The Last Storytellers Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton Barnaby Rogerson Books Reviews :
The Last Storytellers Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton Barnaby Rogerson Books Reviews
- "The Last Storytellers" is a collection of 37 oral tales from five storytellers in the main marketplace in Marrakesh. They were collected by BBC Correspondent Richard Hamilton between 2006 and 2009 and cleaned up and are now presented in written form for your amusement.
The stories cover a lot of ground, from literary tales to fantasies, and some of them are a lot like Western tales (like a Cinderella story) while others feel much more like the Middle East. Many of the stories are quite short, just a few pages, though there are some longer tales as well. A number of the stories are quite grisly, so they would not make appropriate reading to children, though most would. If you're going to read these tales to children it would behoove you to read ahead to pick appropriate stories.
Hamilton said in an interview that his translator had sketchy English skills and that he had to clean up the stories a good bit, and I have to say that the tales as they are presented are quite smooth and well-told. That said, I am also reading "The Arabian Nights" right now, and I find the Nights to be better stories. They evoke more of a sense of wonder and have a sense of timing which Hamilton's tales do not do as well at. I also thought that Hamilton's tales give in to a malicious sense of justice a little too often (like an evil stepmom who is served the chopped-up body of her daughter for a snack) for my tastes.
Overall, however, Hamilton's stories are an enjoyable read and serve as an excellent introduction to the current oral storytelling in Marrakech. I often found myself chuckling as I read these stories, and I finished the collection with the feeling of having learned something about the state of modern Arab storytelling, which was valuable in itself. For the most part these are stories in the classical tradition, Once Upon A Time-type tales, and they hold up well to the modern reader. They are a good companion to "The Arabian Nights" and an enjoyable read. Get them, and enjoy! - I bought this book prior to a trip to Morocco but it didn't arrive until I had returned. In the end this was the best result as I'd traveled to many of the places featured in these stories so reading the ancient tales meant so much more to me. The riding (mostly translations of ancient stories) is like putting a hot knife through butter...effortless and easy. I've already read the book twice and will read again before returning to Morocco.
- I loved The Last Storytellers a collection of wonderful traditional tales with the usual cast of innocent maidens, love lorn viziers, shepherds,djinns, holes in the ground and so on and so forth.
I used to watch the storytellers by Cafe France in Djemma elFna when we lived in Marrakesh--and now I know what they were saying.
These stories are elegantly translated and read beautifully --they obviously would read well aloud to all ages!
The world of A Thousand and One Nights meets the world of Grimm.
Terrific stuff. - Some stories are wonderful, especially since I spent some time in Marrakech. Some are a bit strange. Overall this is a great book of folk tales from a very, very old oral tradition.
- A bit too much background before a wonderful series of local stories, tales and ballads. Great selection of stories.
- This book took into a voyage on the back of a magic carpet to a wonderful place called Morocco. Where fantasy, Djinns, Sultan, Beauty, Love, Betray, Sorecellerie, Good and Bad lived all together.... This book presents great stories, meaningful and full of morals. This is definitely a must read for those who love to travel to a magic place and experience different tales......I simply enjoyed reading these fairytales, and i ceratinly didn't want to come back from that magic world!!!
- Fascinating collection of traditional Moroccan tales, each one more enchanting than the last. I couldn't put the book down, and am ready to start reading it again.
- A great history of storytelling. The stories are interesting.
