Stars and keys : folktales and creolization in the Indian Ocean /

Offering a rich collection of folktales--and their interpretations--from Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Reunion, and the Comoros, Haring (emer., English, Brooklyn College, CUNY) presents the reader with a tapestry that displays both the culture of these islands of the southwest Indian Ocean and a history of oppression and resistance. One sees here the mixing of many traditions: South Asian, Middle Eastern, European, and African. Haring illustrates how theories of intertextuality and interperformance are manifested in the textual hybridity that dialogues with the hybridity of cultures in this part of the world. "Thus," he writes," the creole folktale is the place to look for multiple alternative, sometimes utopian, visions of the world." Arguing that storytellers are the "unacknowledged, unheard legislators of cultural theory," this book gives credit to these priceless stories, which range from the serious to the witty and offer a laboratory for mapping current theories of textuality and cultural history. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers, all levels. P. Venkateswaran Nassau Community College