Matengo Folktales

By Joseph Mbele

General Fiction

Language: English Not Rated (NR)

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No. of pages

128

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Overview Ratings & Reviews

A collection of English translations of ten Matengo folktales from southern Tanzania, recorded in the seventies. Each tale is followed by a commentary, which illuminates the tale for outside readers, in terms of cultural context and meanings. There is also a final essay on the folktale. The book is used in college teaching and for general readership.

Praise and Reviews

Customer Reviews

Matengo Folktales: highly recommended , 06/28/2004
Reviewer: Professor Robert Cancel
Matengo Folktales_ is an excellent, inexpensive, and reliable collection of tales told in an oral context. I have ordered it myself for a course in African oral literature. Casual and serious readers will benefit from what the book has to offer. Mbele's approachable and concise style of commentary is informative and convincing. This deceptively modest work is an admirable contribution to the literature on African oral narrative traditions."" (Professor Robert Cancel, _The Literary Griot_).
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...would please any literature teacher , 06/28/2004
Reviewer: Professor Cynthia Ward
The tales themselves are entertaining....Mbele's commentaries, many of which are longer than the tales they discuss, analyze literary devices such as conflict, characterization, and theme to produce close readings that would please any literature teacher."" (Professor Cynthia Ward, _Marvels and Tales_).
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useful reading , 06/28/2004
Reviewer: Professors N. Kagendo Mutua and Beth Swadener
We were pleased to read _Matengo Folktales_....In summary, we feel that _Matengo Folktales_ is a useful reading in teacher education courses, as well as in K-12 classrooms. It can also be used as an introduction to oral storytelling in African, s well as other, cultural contexts."" (Professors N. Kagendo Mutua and Beth Swadener, _Multicultural Perspectives_).