Mayan folktales : folklore from Lake Atitlan, Guatemala /

Folklore is both literature and an ethnographic record. Sexton's collection can be appreciated from a wide variety of perspectives that fall somewhere between the literary and the ethnographic. On the one hand, the social scientist will find data relevant to an analysis of an indigenous culture and society some 500 years after the conquest, in a country much vexed by political turmoil. On the other hand, the common reader can delight in the richness of texts that preserve much that can be called "indigenous" but also reflect a significant amount of Iberian influence. The tales themselves focus on the universal themes of guile, vice, and other foibles exhibited by people around the world. The setting is one of the most beautiful; the breathtaking highland lake of Atitl'an was long a vital center of indigenous life in Guatemala. The exact location and the identity of the original narrators have been disguised, for reasons of privacy and perhaps even of safety. Yet the flavor of community life and thought is an inextricable part of the fabric of each of these tales of lust, greed, and generosity that "expand our vision of the native worldview, including beliefs, values, and thought systems." For maximum scholarly use, one would have liked an annotated version of the original Mayan versions. Despite this shortcoming, the collection serves splendidly the purposes of a wide variety of readers. All levels. M. J. Mixco; University of Utah

Anthropologist Sexton ( Ignacio ) has compiled nearly 40 folktales from the Mayan Indians, focusing on the Quiche-Maya of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. In so doing, he reveals a rich and complex culture that is still very much alive. Many of the myths, according to Sexton, are designed to reinforce behavior considered positive by the society. They often demonstrate a bawdy sense of humor, as in the story of the promiscuous woman who eats her lover's sex organ and as a result dies of thirst. Others reveal an anti-technological strain (a rich man tries to send his son money by hanging it on the telegraph wire). Finally, the highly entertaining story of the Rabbit and Uncle Coyote, in which the clever rabbit constantly outwits the coyote, cannot help but remind readers of the African-American tales of Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox or modern ``Roadrunner'' cartoons--thus showing the universality of the emotions tapped by these myths. In an excellent introduction, Sexton to avoid repetition--introduce/introduction--and since most readers of this rather specific book probably won't need to be `introduced' to G?/ contrasts the Guatemalan Mayans clearer, I think with their more familiar cousins in Mexico. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved