“Magnum Opus: A great work of art or literature, especially a writer’s culminating and greatest achievement; masterpiece. Plural: magna opera, magnum opuses,
‘It was the magnum opus of a fat spoiled rich boy who could write like an angel about landscape and like an adolescent about people.’ Norman Mailer, Cannibals and Christians”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
Given the prevalence of its symbolism, particularly in Europe, I think this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Saint George and the Dragon ought to be able to find a home in most classrooms.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Well, we’ve reached the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2019. I’d say May has passed quickly, but I suspect that for most classroom teachers like me, May is, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, the cruelest month.
To ring out the month, here is a reading on the Hindu Epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, along with the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends it.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Subramania Bharati: (1882-1921) Tamil poet, songwriter, and essayist. Bharati is considered one of the giants of modern Tamil literature. His patriotic verse echoes with revolutionary romanticism. He wrote of a free India in which men and women will have broken their chains, as in his famous poem “Murasu” (“The Drum”). Panchali Sapahtam (1912), an epic in five cantos, uses the humiliation of Draupadi in the Mahabarata to symbolize India’s humiliation under colonialism. Bharati’s devotional poems and songs continue to be immensely popular, especially those forming the Kannan Pattu, some twenty-three lyrics celebrating the Hindu god, Krishna. As a journalist, Bharati contributed to the creation of a vigorous Tamil prose and worldview, affirming internationalism, social justice, and woman’s rights. Collections in English include Poems of Subramania Bharati (1978) and Subramania Bharati: Chosen Poems and Prose (1984).”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“Jun’ichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) Japanese novelist. Tanizaki’s works are characterized by skillful storytelling and by a deep concern with the psychic forces rooted in human sexuality. This is especially evident in his last two novels, Kagi (1957; tr The Key, 1960) and Futen rojin nikki (1961; tr Diary of a Mad Old Man, 1965), but is also true of his earliest stories, such as Shisei (1910; tr Tattoo, 1961). The works of his middle period, notably Tade kuu mushi (1928; tr Some Prefer Nettles, 1955). Shunkin sho (1933; tr A Portrait of Shunkin, 1965), and Sasame yuki (1943-48; tr The Makioka Sisters, 1957), reveal Tanizaki’s fascination with classical Japanese culture and its unique code of sensuous, feminized bearuty. His admiration for traditional aesthetics is expounded in a famous essay, In’ei raisan (1933; tr In Praise of Shadows, 1977). Many critics consider Tanizaki to be Japan’s greatest modern author.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“A collection of ancient tales from India, Persia, and Arabia. They were first introduced into western Europe in a French translation by Antoine Galland (12 volumes, 1704-1717), derived from and Egyptian text, probably dating from the 14th or 15th century. English translations based on Galland were made by R. Heron (1792) and W. Beloe (1795). The later translations by Henry Torrens (1838), E.W. Lane (1839-1841) and John Payne (1882-1884) and Sir Richard Burton’s unexpurgated edition published at Benares (Varanesi; 16 volumes, 18851888) are based on a late 18th-century Egyptian text. The standard French translation (1889-1904) by J.C. Mardrus has been severely criticized.
The framework of the tales is the story of Scheherazade, daughter of the grand vizier of the Indies. The Sultan Schahriah, having discovered the infidelity of his sultana, has resolved to have a fresh wife every night and to have her strangled at daybreak. Scheherazade entreats to become his wife, and so amuses him with tales for a thousand and one nights that he revokes his cruel decree, bestows his affection on her and calls her ‘the liberator of the sex.’ Her stories included the tales of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.
The film Arabian Nights (1942) is an Oriental adventure involving the caliph of Baghdad, but has not stronger link to the original tales. Much more in the spirit of the original is The Arabian Nights (1974), a visually beautiful film by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) that also encompasses some of the original’s complex narrative structure (tales within tales, and so on). The Thief of Baghdad (1940), a wonderful fantasy film directed by Michael Powell and others, features elements of the tales in a story about an urchin imprisoned for theft who is joined in his cell by the deposed prince, whom he helps to regain his throne. The first film with this title (1924) was written by and starred Douglas Fairbanks, and there were remakes in 1960 and 1978.
Several pieces of music have been inspired by the Arabian Nights. The best known is Sheherezade, as symphonic suite (1888) by Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), which Fokine turned into a ballet (1910). Sheherezade (1903) is a set of three songs by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), setting poems by Tristan Klingsor. Schehrezade also makes an interesting appearance in one of the novellas in Chimera (1972) by the US writer John Barth (b. 1930).”
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
“A Sumerian goddess of air, the wife of Enlil. Following the advice of her old mother Nundarshegunu, Ninlil so delighted Enlil, the storm god, that he came to her in three different forms. The resulting offspring were Nergal, the king of the underworld, Ninazu, another underworld deity, and a third deity, who remains unknown.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“(Also called Ninhursag and Ninmah) A Sumerian mother goddess. Possibly a later form of the ancient earth goddess Ki, Nintu created human beings, molding six varieties of them from clay. To the water god Enki, she bore Ninsar, who in turn bore him Ninkur, upon whom Enki fathered Uttu, the goddess of plants. When Enki ate the plants, he was cursed by Nintu, but he eventually persuaded her to remove the curse, in return for various gifts.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“A Babylonian warrior god. Marduk was a son of Ea, the god of water and wisdom. When the other gods are terrified by the invasion of Tiamat, the dragon of the sea, Marduk slays her. He makes heaven and earth of the two halves of her body and creates man of the bones and blood of Kingu, one of Tiamat’s henchmen. Part of Marduk’s supremacy in the pantheon of Assyria and Babylonia was due to the fact that he was the local Baal of Babylon.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“Sumerian and Babylonian god of war, the south wind, and artificial irrigation. Ninurta is the hero of a fragmentary epic poem that tells of his successful war on the dragon Kur. Following the advice of this talking weapon Sharur, Ninurta, a son of Enlil, moves against Kur, a monster often associated with the underworld. At first defeated, Ninurta returns to the battle and destroys Kur completely. Kur’s death, however, adversely affects the normal behavior of the waters, upon which the land depends for irrigation. Ninurta therefore guides the flood waters into the Tigris, and the fertility of the fields returns. Of the stones that were flung in the battle with Kur, Ninurta blesses those that had been on his side and curses the others. In many respects this myth is the forerunner of innumerable others in which the hero slays the dragon.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
 | A Measurement Conver… on An Elegantly Simple Cooking Co… |
| A Measurement Conver… on The Weekly Text, October 25, 2… |
 | markstextterminal on Cree |
 | panzer046a139293db on Cree |
| markstextterminal on Cree |
Mark's Text Terminal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.