Nusantara - A Sea of Tales

Heidi Shamsuddin author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Random House SEA

Published:14th Dec '21

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Nusantara - A Sea of Tales cover

A collection of fairy tales, folklore, fables, myths, epics, legends, wonder and magic tales from all around Southeast Asia.Nusantara - A Sea of Tales is the most comprehensive collection of folktales, fairy tales, myths and legends from the Nusantara and Southeast Asian region, and was written to sit alongside the great anthologies of folklore from other parts of the world.Although it is impossible to trace the origins of most of these traditional tales, we do know that these stories were used as a means to discover ourselves and the world around us. Like a living creature, these tales came into existence at some point, and have since evolved and adapted to suit the needs of the community that it finds itself in. The seafaring nature of the people in this region has no doubt contributed to the spread of these tales and explains the fascinating variations across Southeast Asia.These rich and layered tales contain all manner of wonder, marvels and strange curiosities, and have been written to enthral a new audience. The author has delved into the history and the meaning behind these tales but like all good fairy tales and folktales, each reader will extract their own meaning from these stories. The symbols in these stories engage our imagination and challenges us to question, discuss and unravel life's conflicts and mysteries. Herein lies the true power of these stories and the reason why these tales must be preserved and allowed to live and breathe once more.

"Shamsuddin's retellings and reassessments of Nusantara folktales in this volume provides both scholars of Southeast Asian folklore as well as general audiences with an invaluable resource that is both entertaining and insightful. Her spirited reimaginings of these traditional narratives are crucial to the survival of the folktale as a genre, and will enable these much-loved stories to retain their relevance not just in our contemporary culture and society, but for generations to come." Dr Sharifah Aishah Binti Osman, senior lecturer in the Department of English (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) at Universiti Malay

ISBN: 9789814954594

Dimensions: 215mm x 135mm x 17mm

Weight: 260g

266 pages