Sunday, February 5, 2017

Reading Notes: Folktales of Bengal, Part A

This first half of "Folktales of Bengal" was fun to read. I like the simplistic writing style used in the entirety of this half of the unit (and presumably the 2nd half too). I almost immediately found inspiration for my new story in this set of tales.

(Lakshmi, Goddess of Fortune; online source, wikipedia)

I really like the use of symbolism in writing, so "The Evil Eye of Sani" (one, two, & three) caught my attention pretty quickly. I love the idea of people representing emotions or certain ideals. For instance, there is a woman that represents good fortune, while there is a man that represents ill fortune. I have an idea for a story involving fairies that represent two opposing things. Maybe good and bad luck, just as this original story or maybe something else. I just like the idea of using a character as the embodiment of an entire emotion, character, etc. This story reminded me of a movie that came out in the recent past, Inside out.


I haven't really tried to hash out any details yet but I think its a good idea to start with!

I'd like to take a second here and just say "EWWW". I've got a pretty tough stomach, generally speaking but "The Child Whom Seven Mothers Suckled" (one & two) really creeped me out. I had a hard time reading it. Cannibalism is not cool, at all. NOPE. I loved that the one mother loved her child enough to stand up to the rest but I won't write anything inspired by this. It was just too much for me to read. :) 

I enjoyed reading "The Origin of Opium" (one, two, & three) but I didn't really find inspiration in the story for my own writing. 

Finally, I did like "The Ghost-Brahman". I find it ironic and incredibly creative that the pretend king was more capable of solving the situation than the true king was. It might also be fun to write some sort of story where a boss or someone of authority is outdone by a "lower" employee or something. *shrug* I think I like the fairy idea best though, so far! 

Source.
Folktales of Bengal, recounted and translated to English by Lal Behari Day, online source

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