
The Life of a Text
Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas
Philip Lutgendorf(Author)
University of California Press
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 23. July 1991
Book
Hardback
450 pages
978-0-520-06690-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Life of a Text offers a vivid portrait of one community's interaction with its favorite text--the epic Ramcaritmanas--and the way in which performances of the epic function as a flexible and evolving medium for cultural expression. Anthropologists, historians of religion, and readers interested in the culture of North India and the performance arts will find breadth of subject, careful scholarship, and engaging presentation in this unique and beautifully illustrated examination of Hindi culture. The most popular and influential text of Hindi-speaking North India, the epic Ramcaritmanas is a sixteenth century retelling of the Ramayana story by the poet Tulsidas. This masterpiece of pre-modern Hindi literature has always reached its largely illiterate audiences primarily through oral performance including ceremonial recitation, folksinging, oral exegesis, and theatrical representation. Drawing on fieldwork in Banaras, Lutgendorf breaks new ground by capturing the range of performance techniques in vivid detail and tracing the impact of the epic in its contemporary cultural context.
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
862 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-06690-8 (9780520066908)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/1991
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€72.99
Available for download
Person
Philip Lutgendorf is Assistant Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Culture at the University of Iowa.