Central African Folktales - Paperback

by Enongene Mirabeau Sone (Introduction by), J. K. Jackson (Editor)

From the beating heart of Central Africa comes a collection to join East African, West African and Southern African Folktales

Featuring stories such as The Prince Who Insisted on Possessing the Moon, How the Squirrel outwitted the Elephant, and The Water-Fairies save a Child, tales from Central Africa share many aspects of the same themes across the continent because ancient ethnic groups expanded and migrated over many centuries bringing the oral traditions with them. Tales in the Bantu and Banda languages abound, the Sara and Gbaya too, each bringing their unique inflections to the stories of Anansi-style spiders or other tricksters, where in the Congo, the clever water antelope or gazelle is pitched against the brutish or pompous lions, leopards or elephants. A lively and powerful read.

FLAME TREE 451. The bestselling paperback series on myths, legends, warriors, leaders and epic literature. Although Norse, Greek and Celtic mythology dominate the popular imagination in Western countries, there are so many other tradition around the world that contribute to the rich exploration of our collective past and create new perspectives on events of the past, and the lessons of the future.

Author Biography

Enongene Mirabeau Sone (Introduction) is Professor of English and African Literature as well as Folklore Studies at Walter Sisulu University in South Africa. Prof. Sone holds a BA, MA and MPhil in African literature from the University of Dschang in Cameroon and completed his PhD in African oral literature studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has taught in many universities in Africa and has published extensively on various aspects of African oral literature and folklore in reputable academic journals across the globe. His collaboration with leading world and African folklorists led to the publication of two seminal books in Oral literature and Folklore studies: The Challenge of Folklore to the Humanities (2021) edited by Dan Ben-Amos, and The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore (2021) edited by Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola.

J.K. Jackson is General Editor of The World's Greatest Myths and Legends series, with titles including 'Myths of Babylon', 'Indian Myth', 'Egyptian Myth', 'Norse Myth' and 'Polynesian Island Myth'. He is editor of 'Myths and Legends' and foreword writer for 'Celtic Myths and Tales'. Other related work includes articles on the Philosophy of Time, 'Macbeth, A Gothic Chaos' and William Blake's use of mythology in his visionary literature.