Tales of Darkness and Light: Soso Tham's The Old Days of the Khasis - cover image

Book Series

Copyright

Janet Hujon

Published On

2018-04-25

ISBN

Paperback978-1-78374-468-8
Hardback978-1-78374-469-5
PDF978-1-78374-470-1
HTML978-1-80064-556-1
XML978-1-78374-505-0
EPUB978-1-78374-471-8
MOBI978-1-78374-472-5

Language

  • English
  • Khasi

Print Length

100 pages (viii + 92)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 5 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.21" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 8 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.31" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback339g (11.96oz)
Hardback710g (25.04oz)

Media

Illustrations3

OCLC Number

1096897095

LCCN

2019452732

BIC

  • DS
  • DCQ
  • DCF

BISAC

  • LCO004000
  • LIT022000
  • POE009000

LCC

  • PL4451.9.T46

Keywords

  • Soso Tham
  • Khasi
  • long poem
  • poetry
  • northeastern India

Tales of Darkness and Light

Soso Tham's The Old Days of the Khasis

Soso Tham (1873–1940), the acknowledged poet laureate of the Khasis of northeastern India, was one of the first writers to give written poetic form to the rich oral tradition of his people.

Poet of landscape, myth and memory, Soso Tham paid rich and poignant tribute to his tribe in his masterpiece The Old Days of the Khasis. Janet Hujon’s vibrant new translation presents the English reader with Tham’s long poem, which keeps a rich cultural tradition of the Khasi people alive through its retelling of old narratives and acts as a cultural signpost for their literary identity.

This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Indian literature and culture and in the interplay between oral traditions and written literary forms.
This edition includes:

• Original text • English translation
• Critical apparatus • Embedded audio recordings of the original text

Endorsements

Soso Tham was an Indian poet who worked at a time when English was slowly effacing the nuances of ancient Indian culture. Now, however, in Janet Hujon’s valuable translation, English is the very medium that enables Tham’s poetry to reach a wider audience. Hujon draws on parallels from the Romantic imagination and other sympathetic literary traditions of myth to illuminate and contextualise Tham’s work for an English-speaking audience. This translation will contribute to giving Soso Tham the wider recognition he deserves as a poet, and more generally to introduce Western readers to the rich literary traditions of northeast India.

Dr Vayu Naidu

SOAS, University of London

Additional Resources

Contents

1. Introduction

(pp. 7–16)
  • Janet Hujon
  • Janet Hujon
  • Soso Tham
  • Soso Tham
  • Soso Tham
  • Soso Tham
  • Soso Tham

Preface

(pp. 1–4)
  • Mark Turin

Acknowledgements

(pp. 5–6)
  • Janet Hujon

Contributors

Soso Tham

(author)