Customer Reviews

One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights: Folktales from Wantok Newspaper. Volume 1: Tales from 1972-1985 (Papua New Guinea Folklore Series)

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New Guinea is probably the most liguistically diverse area in the world. So what do you do if you want a representative sampling of the island's folklore but are not willing to learn hundreds of languages yourself? Dr. Slone found an answer. He found a newspaper that published folklore from all over Papua New Guinea in a common pidgin, collected and translated the tales (more than 1,100 of them), and assembled them in two volumes. The result is not the scholarly study one would get from an anthropologist living with the people, but what it lacks in depth it more than makes up for in breadth.

Volume 2 contains a glossary, several indices (of author, village, language, province, flora and fauna, and folklore motif), bibliography, and maps. The maps and glossary are useful to put the stories in a little more context, and the indices can be used to look up tales by subject.

What the book lacks is an introduction to briefly describe PNG life. One gets much of this from reading the stories themselves and from the glossary, but something describing commonalities and differences across the country would be useful. I would also like to see some mention, however brief, of the culture and folklore of the Irian Jaya half of the island, which falls outside the range covered by the newspaper source. Even a list of recommended readings on the subject would help. The introduction does include a section describing the masalais, spirit beings which appear in many of the stories, but I am left wanting more. Still, these two volumes are a monumental work, and Thomas Slone deserves much praise for making them available.

Just after reading few pages, you will be totally absorbed by magical spirit of the stories. Gutpela buk tru. Mi amamas long en.