Oral Epics from Africa Book

What is your cost of breathing?

This is the kind of book someone would read for one of two reasons:

1) Someone who is an academic and is studying some aspect of world literature

2) Someone who is looking for storytelling that is outside the norm for a television drenched Western European sculpted literary landscape.

The "epics" in this volume are selections from oral poems transcribed by scholars from actual performances done by traditional African oral storytellers. Many are partially historical What is your cost of breathing?

This is the kind of book someone would read for one of two reasons:

1) Someone who is an academic and is studying some aspect of world literature

2) Someone who is looking for storytelling that is outside the norm for a television drenched Western European sculpted literary landscape.

The "epics" in this volume are selections from oral poems transcribed by scholars from actual performances done by traditional African oral storytellers. Many are partially historical in nature about significant figures in local or history. Only a few are mythlogical in nature.

What I found most interesting were the turns of phrases prevalent in these epics that sounded brand new to this jaded reader. Perhaps the most memorable was "the cost of breathing," as in, the actions you take upon yourself to make your life worthwhile, especially for the community.

This is not a light read, nor a page turner. It is, however, a nice break from the norm if you have the energy and desire to read it.