Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices and Visions of the Living Maya [Paperback]

Dennis Tedlock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826318231 | ISBN-13: 978-0826318237 | Publication Date: September 1, 1997

This remarkable book lets readers hear Maya myths as they are told today in the mountains of Guatemala. First published in 1993, Breath on the Mirror is now available only from UNM Press.

"A fascinating literary and anthropological excursion into the mental universe of the modern Quiché Maya and their forebears. The stories and myths so compellingly recounted here turn our own world upside-down and remake it in the Maya image. Reading this, one can understand why and how Maya culture has survived five centuries of oppression."--Michael D. Coe, Yale University, author of The Maya

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Traces the endurance of ancient Mayan myths in Central America.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

The world of the living myths of the Maya as they are told today in the mountains of Guatemala and the wilds of southern Mexico, recorded on location by trailblazing anthropologist Dennis Tedlock. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826318231
• ISBN-13: 978-0826318237
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,172,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Short Stories, March 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices and Visions of the Living Maya (Paperback)

This book is full of magical tales told by an ethnographer who is very familiar with the Maya. He is the translator of the Popol Vuh and also the Rabinal Achi. He knows what he's talking about and can write beautifully. This book is a must read for those who travel in Mexico and Guatemala.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Odd but Enjoyable Book, January 6, 2012

By 

Neodoering - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices and Visions of the Living Maya (Paperback)

Breath on the Mirror is an odd work of scholarship that discusses the background and cultural setting of the Popul Vuh, which is the main ancient Maya Indian religious work. Tedlock has a strong reputation as an ethnopoet who specialized in the Indians of the American Southwest and now the Maya Indians. He is used to taking apart and examining the poetry of the American Indians and explaining its disctinctive features and what makes it tick, and he brings this ability to bear in this book by looking at the Popul Vuh and how it achieves its dramatic effect.

Mixed into this scholarship of the poetics of the Popul Vuh and an exploration of Mayan poetry in general is Tedlock's discussion of his own explorations of Mayan oral culture and written literature. There are many fascinating little discussions herein of various aspects of Mayan poetry, and other discussions which seem a bit out of place, of Tedlock's own process of exploring Mayan poetry and what it came to mean to him. While Dr. Tedlock is a spell-binding writer, I found his little notes on his own process of coming to appreciate Mayan poetry to be off-putting. I want to hear about the Maya, not Dr. Tedlock. Other readers who appreciate the good doctor's excellent works may well want to hear more about him personally and find these sections to be valuable.

Overall this is a very good book. It's full of valuable insights on Mayan poetry and the Popul Vuh and gives notes on his process of translating the Popul Vuh and what he went through to get that job done. Others of his works I have found more fun to read, but this one nonetheless sits on my shelf and isn't going to be tossed in the foreseeable future. If you're reading Tedlock, I also recommend his translation of the "Popul Vuh," "2000 Years of Mayan Literature" and "The Spoken Word and the Work of Interpretation." His wife, Barbara, has written "Time and the Highland Maya," one of the most powerful works on the Maya Indians I've yet read. I would suggest reading all these works, if you're really into the Maya.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sorry, January 22, 2000

By 

"bob2pat" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices and Visions of the Living Maya (Paperback)

i feel real stupid; my critique of breath on the mirror was intended for the book "place of mirrors". please ignore the previous review by me, robert m. leas. "breath on the mirror is truly fascinating reading.