Product Description

Slavic folklore has great cultural significance and international influence. Written for students and general readers, this book offers a brief but thorough introduction to Slavic folklore. Included are explanations of the different types of Slavic folklore, the role of Slavic folklore in literature and popular culture, and the state of criticism and scholarship on this field of interest. The volume provides numerous examples and cites print and electronic sources for further reading.

The people of Eastern Europe have a long and rich cultural history. Central to that history are the folktales, traditions, and customs of the region. Some elements of Slavic folklore, such as vampire legends and Easter eggs, are well known, while others are more obscure. And when the Slavs came to America, they brought much of their folklore to the new world, where it continues to flourish today. This book is a short but thorough introduction to Slavic folklore.

Written expressly for students and general readers, it systematically overviews Slavic folklore. It discusses the many different types of folklore and summarizes scholarship and research on the subject. It provides a wide range of texts and examples from the Slavic folk tradition and explores the role of Slavic folklore in literature and popular culture. The volume cites numerous print and electronic sources and closes with a glossary and selected, general bibliography. Literature students will enjoy learning about Slavic tales and customs, while students in social studies classes will learn more about the culture of Eastern Europe.

Customer Reviews (1)

A glossary, bibliography, and index round out this welcome addition to folklore and mythology studies shelves
Written by Natalie Kononenko (Kule Chair of Ukranian Ethnography, University of Alberta), Slavic Folklore: A Handbook is a meticulous study of its subject matter rather than a fairy-tale book of stories. Accessible to general readers, Slavic Folklore discusses the definitions and classifications of Slavic mythography, various scholarly approaches and contexts for understanding these enduring works, and a handful of sample texts. Slavic Folklore requires no prior knowledge of Slavic history, folklore, or linguistics, and all transliterations of Slavic names, places, and other words have been carried out with an eye toward practicality and ease of use. A glossary, bibliography, and index round out this welcome addition to folklore and mythology studies shelves, as well as college library reference shelves. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Weaving linguistic, cultural, and historical themes together, Alexander M. Schenker has created a complete and accessible account of the development of the Slavic languages. In this unique book, he traces the history of the tribes of the Slavic regions from the Late Roman period through the end of the Middle Ages and discusses how their individual languages and writing evolved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A fine companion to any Old Church Slavonic primer and more
Alexander M. Schenker's THE DAWN OF SLAVIC: An Introduction to Slavic Philology is a comprehensive historical background to the first Slavic writings. For anyone learning Old Church Slavonic from a primer like Nandiris & Auty's HANDBOOK OF OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC or Schmalstieg's INTRODUCTION TO OLD CHURCH SLAVIC Schenker's book is a vital overview of archaeology, comparative Indo-European linguistics, and manuscript studies to serve as accompaniment.

THE DAWN OF SLAVIC opens with the historical setting: a hitherto unknown tribe makes it existence known by sweeping into central Europe. Schenker lists the various theories for the Slavic homeland, along with the possibility that peoples reported earlier by ancient historians may be identified with the Slavs. The Slavic expansion is carefully tracked, as well as the intercultural contact of the Slavs in the Balkans. Schenker's history goes up through the Moravian mission--which also tackles the problem of the exact location of Rastislav's kingdom--and the arrival of Slavs in the northwest, and finally ends with Kyiv Rus. This portion of the book contains a rich bibliography, and has spurred this reader onto countless interesting sources.

The section portion of the book is is a brief (100-page) diachronic grammar of Proto-Slavonic, expanded from the author's prior presentation in Routledge's THE SLAVONIC LANGUAGES, ed. Bernard Comrie (1993). While it doesn't compare at all to a real primer, it has some interesting perspectives on several matters, most notably phonology. And the grammar goes all the way back to the beginning: Proto-Indo-European, introducing the reader to concepts like laryngeal theory through a Slavic lense. The final portion of the book deals with Slavic philology in its most limited sense: writing. The two alphabets Glagolitic and Cyrillic, their functioning, and their evolution, along with all the debate over their order of invention is described. Major literary figures like Clement of Ochrid are sketched. The most fascinating part for me, however, was Schenker's description of each of the major manuscripts from the OCS period and their contents. Most OCS primers just give a single selection from any given manuscript, it is nice to know what else is out there.

If you are interested in any topic having to with early Slavs, from comparative Indo-European linguistics to the history of the modern Slavic states, THE DAWN OF SLAVIC is highly recommended. Very rarely do I encounter such an entertaining book.

Interesting but lacking
The part about the history of the Early Slavs is very interesting and gives very useful data which I didn't know before. About the samples of early Slavic writing, I was simply delighted with the idea of having such valuable historical monuments before my eyes.

The part about language is also very interesting, but there are some negative points which I feel obliged to comment:

As usual in studies about general Slavic philology made by western scholars, some major languages (first Russian and then Polish and Czech, followed by Bulgarian) seem to receive more attention than others (with western South-Slavic usually in the last place). I believe this is due to the mere fact that most western scholars, for diverse reasons, simply know more about Russian, Polish and Czech than about Serbian/Croatian and Slovene. Of course it seems impossible to master all major Slavic languages, but at least some scholars could be more humble and not pretend that they know everything about them all.

For instance, in the chapter "Early writing", part "3.10 The origin of the terms Glagolitic and Cyrillic", note 201, Schenker says that "The stem glagol- does not occur in South Slavic outside of (Old) Church Slavonic". Well, this is completely wrong! As any Serbian, Montenegrin, Bosnian or Croatian kid knows, when they learn grammar at school they have to cope with terms such as "glagolski pridjev" (verbal adjective, ie participle), "glagolski prilog" (gerund), "glagolski vid" (verbal aspect), etc., because, in fact, the word for 'verb' in Serbian/Croatian is just "glagol".

One has to wonder what would have happened if the eventful circumstances of history had not led the easternmost Slavic dialects (Russian) but, for instance, the westernmost (Polabian) to the position of the most spoken and 'famous' Slavic language. Probably, Slavic philology and even the reconstructed Proto-Slavic forms would look quite different of how they look today.

For example, in the reconstructed verbal conjugation of Proto-Slavic, the 1st person plural ("we") takes the ending -m plus the "hard" jer, which is such a straightforward way of making a "step back" from Russian. Of course, Russian forms end in -m. The posited reconstructed ending could be also suitable (though less clearly) for Polish, whose forms end in -my. But Slovene and Serbian/Croatian end in -mo, while Czech, Slovak and Bulgarian end in -me, and therefore none of them agree with the posited proto-form. Schenker 'resolves' the problem with one simple and short note: "[...]The ending -mo, which appears in some Slavic languages is probably derived from -mos, which is the more common variant of this ending in Proto-Indo-European[...]".

To me, this "some Slavic languages" doesn't look accurate at all, because it seems as if the endings -mo/-me were the exception, while in fact they are more common than the specifically Eastern Slavic -m.

Another point is the posited form *edin (+ "hard" jer) for the numeral 'one'. Only East Slavic and Bulgarian have a form ending in -in (plus Upper Sorbian, ending in -yn). All the other languages (that is, the majority of them) show forms ending in a mobile 'schwa' (jeden or jedan), thus suggesting a Proto-Slavic form like *ed+soft jer+n+hard jer. This would be the most logical and easy conclusion, explaining the -in forms as a (mostly Eastern Slav) "anomaly" caused by the assimilation of the adjective meaning 'only'. But again, the mighty influence of Russian seems to be overwhelming.

In my oppinion, several other Russian influences can be detected in Schenker's (and others) posited reconstruction of the Slavic proto-language. But, quite ironically, there is another big mistake in this book which could have been avoided just by listening to colloquial Russian speech. When talking about the pronoun "c^to" (what), Schenker says that the genitive form "c^'so" replaced the nominative and accusative in West Slavic. Perhaps he didn't find another reason for Polish and Czech "co" (and he forgot Slovak "c^o"), but in fact the explanation is much simpler. The original form "c^to" was metathesized to "tc^o" > "c^o", for easier pronounciation and by analogy to oblique forms, as it often happens in Russian informal conversation. The fact that "c^o" yielded "co" in Czech and Polish involves just a small phonetic change and it shows analogy with other cases in which East/South Slavic "c^" > West Slavic "c". Amazing that Schenker didn't see all that.

Moreover, in the survey of Slavic languages, when talking about the Croatian and Serbian diasystem, Schenker says that "Croatian and Serbian were standardized in the first half of the nineteenth century, chiefly through the efforts of the Hercegovinian Vuk Karadzic and the Croat Ljudevit Gaj". Well, it's true that Vuk Karadzic was born in eastern Hercegovina, which at that time was under the Ottoman rule. But everybody knows that Vuk Karadzic was Serbian, that he was the great reformer of the Serbian literary language and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, so I don't understand the use of the term "Hercegovinian" in that context... Ljudevit Gaj, for instance, is correctly called Croat, and not "Zagorjan", even he was born in the Zagorje region. It smells like some kind of intrussion of politics into linguistic and historical topics, and personally I found the aforementioned paragraph quite unfortunate.

Vuk Karadzic, despite his enormous importance in the development of modern day Serbian literary language, is only mentioned (and now correctly as Serb) on a footnote (308) in the section "Linguistic investigations", which mentions several of the most remarkable scholars and investigators of Slavic languages and philology. Karadzic's mentor, the Slovene Jernej Kopitar, is thoroughly commented, and so he receives the good treatment that his figure deserves. But again, I can't understand why Karadzic's figure is treated in such different (I would dare to say nearly offensive) way.

I don't intend to be harsh; the book gives valuable data, but it clearly has some important gaps. ... Read more

Product Description
Until recently, few scholars were even aware that a Slavic Magickal tradition still existed. Kenneth Johnson's book presents his true-life experiences in Russia with the living practitioners of this ancient magickal discipline. It also serves as a course in authentic shamanic practices. Readers can learn about the mythology and lore of the Slavic peoples, and there is material on festivals, cosmology, the gods, Otherworld spirits, and ancestor beliefs.Amazon.com Review
Kenneth Johnson's nearly seamless integration of history with story, and his ability to shift effortlessly from concise factual reporting to Byzantine descriptions of his adventures in and around Saint Petersburg make Slavic Sorcery read like a novel. Explore the history and folklore of Eastern Europe and European Russia as Johnson delves into the superstitionsand wives' tales that helped earth-magic beliefs, such as dowsing, survive the religious andpolitical turmoil of the region. At the same time, add secrets of the Slavic magical tradition to your own repertoire through Johnson's experiences with Slavic spells, sacred places of power, tree magic, and spirits of the otherworld. You'll also find a delightful recounting of Johnson's learning experiences under the tutelage ofVladimir Antonov, a colorful and well-known practitioner of this ancient earth magic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

More a book of Slavic Folklore & Myth rather than Sorcery
I found this book to be far more a presentation (and a good one, at that) of elements of Slavic folklore and mythology, than anything clearly to do with Sorcery.THere is information on the Slavic Gods and (single) Goddess Moist Mother Earth summed up by Vladmir of Kiev in 980, as well as description of the several nature spirits such as the Leshii or Forest Lord, the Rusalka, deadly maidens of the waters, the Domovoi or House Spirit, the Bannik of the Bath House, the Polevik of the Fields, the fairies or vile, as well as the "Death Crone", Baba Yaga.Also there is lore about the importance to the Russians of water, and polarities of Sky and Earth, and the Slavic World Tree with its 3 realms of Underworld, Middle World and Otherworld. There are some spells or charms, and correspondences to the 4 directions.There are some very nice illustrations.

In the midst of this presentation of folklore, which is quite good, Johnson weaves his travelogue and personal journey of observing and working with two Russian energy workers, who may, or may not be "Slavic sorcerers."Given that these two energy workers are educated, sophisticated men (one a parapsychologist who spoke dismissively of Russian folk sorcerers as "primitive", the other a tramp-like man who had formerly been a university professor and psychologist), they don't fit the image or expectations one might have had, when reading the title of the book, that Johnson was going to travel to a Russian backwoods, find a village remote from outside influence, and reveal native sorcery in a relatively "pure" form, which also bore resemblance to practices in other European pagan sorcery or witchcraft.

It was disconcerting to see how, in fact, these two Russian energy workers use language and terminology that sound derived from Easternor New Age systems, such as yoga, chakra, AUM, energy tube.One of the men spoke from Slavic mythology as well, referring to the Otherworld and the Leshii and Rusalka, but all the "teachings" he had to share with Johnson seemed to me like "non-denominational" or New Age energy work.NOt that some of these practices might not be authentic to Slavic Sorcery, but they just bore little resemblance to what I've read elsewhere of sorcery or witchcraft in Europe, for instance in "Balkan Traditional Witchcraft", which presents a far "darker" and more primitive feeling craft. On the other hand, given that Sorcery for our times may actually need to be something different than it was for our ancestors, one can read this book with an open mind and value the wisdom in it for what it is, whether or not one chooses to see the teachings as "sorcery."

I wish I could give this book less than 1 star!
I was really excited to come across acopy of this book after searching at length for information on this subject. Unfortunately it was a great disappointment! It is a glorified travelog masquerading as in depth scholarship. One gets the sense that Johnson simply didn't spend enough time in the field to acquire adequate information to speak authoritatively on the subject. Perhaps a more accurate title would be " My New-Age Russian Vacation" because it has little to do with any Slavic country besides Russia and even less to do with ancient practices.I realize that this book was published by Llewellyn and so I didn't expect it to be strictly anthropological but I did hope to find SOME substance within it's pages (or atleast a decent bibliography). I've honestly found more information on ancient Slavic spiritual practices in books about folk art like pysanky or embroidery.Goddess Embroideries of Eastern Europe by Mary B. Kelly is a good place to start. Where is a reader-friendly book about our ancestors religion, gods, and lifeways?!? Unfortunately I think I may have to write it myself.

Slavic Sorcery
I have recieved this book from kwartstudios, through Amazon.com.
.
I recieved this book faster then expected, and praise the media mail system and kwartstudios for such prompt service.
.
The book in itself is informative and easy to read, especially for someone just discovering the shamanic path.

loved the exercises in this book
As my heritage is Russian and I am also a Pagan, I enjoyed reading this book. Many of the excercises given in the book were enjoyable as well. I liked Johnson's story-telling style of his personal journey throughout. Those readers who do energy work will relate to some of the healing methods explored.

One Man's Journey
This book was indeed, excellent. However, it wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. I had been hoping for a book detailing Slavic Sorcery, itsuses and practices. Instead, this book chronicles the author's efforts tobe accepted into the vestigal groups of slavic shamans; and his experiencesamong them.

I had been hoping more for a history followed by some recipesand practical applications of Slavic paganism. While this wasn't exactlywhat I had hoped for it was still an excellent book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Academic and fun!
For anyone seriously interested in where much of our vampire lore came from, this is an essential work. It is very good academic work, but at the same time easy and fun reading. It was out of print for a long time so I was happy to see that new copies have been made available. If you're interested in this sort of thing - buy it while you can.

An expert's perspective on vampire folklore
His students love him, but J. Perkowski can be a royal jerk, probably due to the subject of his expertise.Constantly solicited for information by self-proclaimed vampires and enthusiasts alike, he can be curt and unobliging to the most well-intentioned academic (such as myself).But that's personal.

Perkowski's book is the best on the subject.The folktales and true accounts he's unearthed are both fanciful and disturbing, all refreshingly lacking Western adulteration.In this relatively brief treatise Perkowski provides great incite into the evolution of one of our most intriguing myths.The Darkling is the sine qua non of the study of vampirism.

Unusual work of scholarship in this field
For those actually interested in the background ofthe folklore associated with vampires, this is a reasonably thorough and well researched ( if short ) work on the subject.

This work will be of interest to anyonewith an anthropological bent, or with a strong interest in traditionalfolklore.Although the author wastes a bit of time in the first chaptertracing the migration of the traditional stories from the slavic world intoWestern European Novels and from there into modern pop culture, he thenredeems himself with a reasonably thorough overview of the origins, socialaspects and history of the traditional folktales and beliefs, as well aspersonal accounts of their continued existence in Serbia.

Overall, Iwould say that this book is worthwhile reading on the subject for thoseinterested in the origins of these myths. ... Read more

Product Description
This 2006 book documents developments in the countries of eastern Europe, including the rise of authoritarian tendencies in Russia and Belarus, as well as the victory of the democratic 'Orange Revolution' in Ukraine, and poses important questions about the origins of the East Slavic nations and the essential similarities or differences between their cultures. It traces the origins of the modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations by focusing on pre-modern forms of group identity among the Eastern Slavs. It also challenges attempts to 'nationalize' the Rus' past on behalf of existing national projects, laying the groundwork for understanding of the pre-modern history of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The book covers the period from the Christianization of Kyivan Rus' in the tenth century to the reign of Peter I and his eighteenth-century successors, by which time the idea of nationalism had begun to influence the thinking of East Slavic elites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Slavic History Brought to Life
This is a great look into the pre-Christian history of the Slavic people and the religion before and after the arrival of the Christians and how it molded itself around the new monotheistic tradition forced upon them, morphing it into an amalgamation of what some would call 'pagan' and Christian tradition.

It should be noted that this book is not greatly about vampires, so if that's what you're looking for then you came to the wrong place (but it is still a great collection of history and stories).

There is not much left of pre-Christian Slavic religions since most of it was methodically destroyed, and most of it was not written down (they say that Cyrillic was their first writing system, which was created by St. Cyril and St. Methodius. However, there have been some arguments of an older system, however this is inconclusive).

I would say this is a great book to read if you want to become better acquainted with your Slavic heritage and where some of the family traditions came from. It has beautiful images inside and helps to explain the gods/goddesses and folklore and how they influenced the artwork.

In conclusion, it's a great book and I totally recommend it.

Eastern Europeean Myth
This book does a superb job of providing enjoyable as well as a pleasurable amount of varied Slavic myths.I have found this book to be interesting as well as intriging and just enjoyable to read. Although many people may comment on the title "Forests of The Vampire" I must warn you that this book is only brief on Vampires, but should not be downgraded because of this; The book still provides many other interesting myths and folktales that many would find interesting throughout the Slavic cultures.

Just like all other "Myth And Mankind" books this one does a great job of providing cultural and religious connections throughout World Cultures. As well the book works contains a good amount of historical refference and as well includes little facts that emphasize the importance as well as meaning that these myths had to their cultures.The book as well does a magnificent job of providing amazing pictures of actual historical items as well as pictures and paintings that lend to the historical as well as cultural aspects of the myths.

A very good book that can be read again and again;I highly recommend this book as well as the others books in the "Myth and Mankind" series.

Kupalo, Volos, Mokosh . . .
This is the corrected title for my review, below.

kupala, volos, mokosh . . .
This book is intended for those interested in old Slavic beliefs, and it is well illustrated with photos and artwork. The book begins with information on history and culture, then delves into gods and goddesses, nature spirits, demons, folktales, and sorcery. Most of these nature spirits are described as dangerous, which can be disappointing. This book is NOT about vampires, as these get just 2 pages. The book is generally more fun than academic. If it is your kind of thing, you should get it. You will be happy with the many illustrations.

It's not about vampires at all..
First of all, the title is very misleading to provide wider appeal especially with the vampire lore trend bs. The book has very little dealings with vampire myth, but it focuses well on some areas of paganism and other things throughout eastern europe. A decent book and very much worth the price. If it will ever be re-printed, they should deffinately change the title and remove Vlad photo from the cover, a non-slav by the way, it shouldn't be there. ... Read more

Product Description
MINT! Still in shrink wrapper!!!!The complete history of the Slovak Armed Forces during World War II is covered here in this book. Hundreds of period photos, tables, maps, color uniform plates, orders of battle, strength returns/losses abound. This is an academic and authoritative study of the Slovak military, including the Hlinka Guard & Air Force, as well as the Army and Gendarmerie. The political and military history of Tiso's regime is included, as well as a section on the Shoah (Holocaust). ... Read more

Product Description
A retelling of the Slavic folktale in which a young girl outwits her greedy stepmother and stepsister with the help of the Month Brothers who use their magic to enable her to fulfill seemingly impossible tasks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Delightful retelling of an old folktale
The Month Brothers, A Slavic Tale by Samuel Marshak

Everyone knows that the twelve months of the year never meet but in this charming folk tale a little girl saw all twelve months at one time. Deep in the forest around a blazing fire the Months meet together as brothers in the depths of the Winter.

On a freezing January night, a wicked woman ordered her stepdaughter to go into the forest to find flowers. The poor child, bundled in her ragged clothes, sets out on her impossible quest. She is without hope knowing that she cannot return without flowers and that flowers won't bloom until March. The young girl weeps as she walks on until she comes upon a glade where twelve men stand warming themselves by a huge fire. They listen to her story, and you must read this book if you want to find out how they help her.

This children's book is based on a Soviet-era Russian play The Twelve Months by Samuel (or Samuil) Marshak. With delightful color illustrations by Diane Stanley, this book isa delight to read. A longer version of Marshak's story was released in English in 1967 by Dorothy Nathan.

Wonderful retelling of a Russian Cinderella story.
This is a delightful tale for children in early grade school. Youngerchildren will enjoy the realistic and warm illustrations by Diane Stanley.This story tells the tale of a young girl who isforced to go out in aJanuary storm by her stepmother to look for flowers for her stepsister.While stumbling around in the snow, she meets all twelve Month Brothers,representing all the months of the year. My 8 year old has checked thisbook out of the school library so many times that we are finally purchasingthe book for our personal library. That is the highest recommendation anyauthor can get, the repeated reading by a child. ... Read more

Product Description
In the new second volume of Brodsky Through The Eyes of His Contemporaries, the collection of interviews features eye-witness accounts of Joseph Brodsky's friends and family members, publishers, editors, translators, students, and fellow poets including John Le Carre, Oleg Tselkov, Petr Vail, Bengt Jangfeldt, Susan Sontag, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, and others.This collection of 40 interviews illuminates an intriguing contemporary phenomenon and affords a fascinating insight into the American literary scene. Continuing the discussion begun in the first volume, this series of interviews contains important discussions on the style, ideas, and personality of one of the most brilliant and paradoxical poets of our time. Subtle, incisive, and rigorous in its critical evaluation, each discussion significantly advances our understanding of Brodsky's complex poetic world. All discussions are linked by core questions that are carefully and sometimes provocatively formulated. The interviews are published together with many unique photographs from the private archives of the author and the interviewees. ... Read more

Product Description
The world of Slavic myths is now accessible to English-language readers. These myths, now supplanted by Christian belief, are important to understanding the development of Slavic civilization and character. Slavic Myths is an incomparable general introduction to the topic. The book also features Professor Ondreicka's outstanding artwork, showcasing the high artistic culture of the Slovak Republic.

Slavic Myths presents careful re-tellings of essential Slavic mythology. No other title offers an introduction to Slavic mythology in such an accessible and charming form. The tales and the importance of comparative mythology in the study of history and culture are placed in context in an epilog supplied by Dr. Dusan Caplovic, Vice-President of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and a noted anthropologist. The book also includes a pantheon of Slavic gods and deities, bibliography, index, and a map of prehistoric Slavic sites.

Also available:

Slovak Tales for Young and Old: Pavol Dobsinsky in English and Slovak - ISBN 0865165319
Illustratrated Slovak History - ISBN 0865164266

For over 30 years Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers has produced the highest quality Latin and ancient Greek books. From Dr. Seuss books in Latin to Plato's Apology, Bolchazy-Carducci's titles help readers learn about ancient Rome and Greece; the Latin and ancient Greek languages are alive and well with titles like Cicero's De Amicitia and Kaegi's Greek Grammar. We also feature a line of contemporary eastern European and WWII books.

Some of the areas we publish in include:

Selections From The Aeneid
Latin Grammar & Pronunciation
Greek Grammar & Pronunciation
Texts Supporting Wheelock's Latin
Classical author workbooks: Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Catullus, Cicero
Vocabulary Cards For AP Selections: Vergil, Ovid, Catullus, Horace
Greek Mythology
Greek Lexicon
Slovak Culture And History ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

yes, sir, that's my baby
Well, it isn't actually my baby, really, but I thought that sounded really spiffy and was likely to catch the reader's eye. This book is gorgeous; I was positively floored by it. For those detractors who complain about the huge typeface and the scant content, may I point out that [a] the typeface isn't quite that huge--certainly not big enough to warrant the comparison to a children's book--and [b] the copious (not to mention, extremely helpful) marginal notes add the equivalent of, perhaps, another fifty pages. The material is extremely well organized and--insofar as I was thitherto wholly ignorant of Slavic mythic archetypes--utterly absorbing. One wonders why the table of contents succeeds (rather than precedes) the first page of the first chapter, but I divagate. The professors who collaborated on this opus did a slam-bang job of opening a secret world unto the ignorant Western European (or his American kith) and for that I heartily thank them.

Beautiful Artwork
When I first received the book, I was a little disappointed. For an expensive book, it's very thin and has large print, which makes it look like a children's book.
However, the artwork is absolutely beautiful! Most of the myths in it are ones that I haven't read anywhere else. It also divides the myths into seperate eras - ex The Stone Age, The Iron Age, etc.

Move over Edith Hamilton
"Cultural worship of Gods was an inextricable part of everyday life for the ancient Slavs.The ancient Slavic mind was open to nature and the material manifestations of weather..."With these introductory remarks from Tales from Slavic Myths, welcome to the world of ancient mythology---Slavic style.Edith Hamilton may not have touched on most of the Slavic gods featured in this book but, nonetheless, these Slavic myths deserve a rightful place in the canon of ancient mythology.These tales, penned by Ivan Hudec, former Minister of Culture, are presented along with 97 original color illustrations by Dr. Karol Ondreicka.This beautiful hardbound book may be a bit pricey (and is thus understandably published in a limited edition) but worth every cent of its price tag.These ancient tales are retold in a larger-print, easy-to-read style;however, it would behoove the reader unfamiliar with mythology to read the latter section of the book first where some introductory info can be found.The book unfortunately lacks a formal introduction, but does have an extensive afterword by Dusan Caplovic (of the Slovak Academy of Sciences) who provides a lot of detail about the cradleland origins and evolution of Christianity in the Slavic lands.There are also maps and legends of ancient Slavic pagan sites;a detailed bibliography and a very helpful and interesting "Slavic pantheon of mythological divinities."Throughout the text, side bars of background information help fill in the gaps, too.Indeed, "...the spiritual world and imagery of the Early Slavs was fabulously rich" and anyone interested in early Slavic history needs to know these tales.Even contemporary readers of Slavic literature will run across an occasional mention to one of these mythological figures (Czech author Jachym Topol mentions "Baba Yaga" in his recent novel, CitySisterSilver). So curl up one chilly evening, turn off the TV and lose yourself in the wild/magical world of Slavic mythology! ... Read more

Product Description
Including Bosnian, Russian, Polish and Slovak, the Slavic group of languages is the fourth largest Indo-European sub-group. Spoken by 297 million people, it is one of the major language families of the modern world. This book presents a survey of all aspects of the linguistic structure of the Slavic languages.Roland Sussex and Paul Cubberley cover Slavic dialects and sociolinguistic issues, and the socio-historical evolution of the Slavic languages, in addition to general linguistic topics. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume unifies a wide breadth of interdisciplinary studies examining the expression of motion in Slavic languages. The contributors to the volume have joined in the discussion of Slavic motion talk from diachronic, typological, comparative, cognitive, and acquisitional perspectives with a particular focus on verbs of motion, the nuclei of the lexicalization patterns for encoding motion. Motion verbs are notorious among Slavic linguists for their baffling idiosyncratic behavior in their lexical, semantic, syntactical, and aspectual characteristics. The collaborative effort of this volume is aimed both at highlighting and accounting for the unique properties of Slavic verbs of motion and at situating Slavic languages within the larger framework of typological research investigating cross-linguistic encoding of the motion domain. Due to the multiplicity of approaches to the linguistic analysis the collection offers, it will suitably complement courses and programs of study focusing on Slavic linguistics as well as typology, diachronic and comparative linguistics, semantics, and second language acquisition. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more