Tale
Dinka Folktales
Francis M. Deng · 1974
Synopsis
Tales of the Dinka people, herders of the Nile, collected and then translated: stories of kinship and marriage, of herds and marriage compensation, of age classes and large families, in which appears, among others, a boy at odds with a cruel stepmother. An introduction in three parts, on the marvellous and the real, on the origin and scope of the tales, and then on the circumstances, presents them to the reader.
Context
The collection appeared in New York in 1974, illustrated by Martha Reisman. It belongs to a series of works that its author then devoted to the Dinka: a study of customary law facing modernization in 1971, a monograph in 1972, a collection of songs in 1973. In his preface, Deng writes that praising his people's culture is not enough to save it, that much of it is being lost, and that recording the tales amounts to preserving what was while enriching what will be. A Dinka tale he co-signed with Mohamed Omer Bushara appeared in French in 2003.
Who it is for
Tales in English, preceded by an introduction on their origin and on the circumstances of their telling; no prior knowledge is required.
Prizes and reception
The collection was reprinted by Holmes & Meier; no award or critical reception is known for it.
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