
Rabinal Achi
A Mayan Drama of War and Sacrifice
Tedlock(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 16. June 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
382 pages
978-0-19-513975-4 (ISBN)
Description
In the ancient Mayan drama Rabinal Achi, a rebel warrior is captured by the ruler of an enemy city-state and faces his certain death at court. In the dialogue that evolves the warrior dances a dance of death, makes psychic leaps to his homeland and demands a series of requests from his captors to reconcile his death far from his homeland. Tedlock presents the first direct translation from Quiche Maya to English of Rabinal Achi. It is one of the few surviving pieces of Native American drama from the pre-Columbian period in the form of an intact script.
Reviews / Votes
"This translation of Rabinal Achi is poetry. What is even more remarkable is the accessibility...the time travel, if you will, through a scholar's work to hear the poetic voices and the poetry from another time."--The Santa Fe New Mexican "I am struck, as always with Tedlock's work, by the extraordinary nature of what he's done. This isn't a mere translation but an entirely new way of presenting an ancient text. And the text itself opens the theater and the literature of the Americas as never before."--Jerome Rothenberg, Poet "Dennis Tedlock brings both the authority of a scholar and the perception of a poet to this primal text of human imagination and conflict. In Professor Tedlock's exceptionally sensitive translation, together with his extensive notes and commentary, Rabinal Achi, a surviving drama of Mayan culture prior to the advent of the Europeans, is given a timeless witness and actuality."--Robert Creeley, Poet "Man of Rabinal, Lord Five Thunder, Eagle, Jaguar, and Cawek dance and speak in lightening and thunder! Listen, hear, see without and within Sky and Earth! The Mayan voice is always its own and, yet, too your voice and my voice is OUR voice in the voice of Rabinal Achi."--Simon J. Ortiz, Writer, Poet, Author of Out There Somewhere, Woven StoneMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
numerous halftones and line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
565 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-513975-4 (9780195139754)
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
09/2003
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Dennis Tedlock is Distinguished Professor of English and Anthropology at the State University of New York, Buffalo.