Boucquey Thierry (General Editor). Encyclopedia Of World Writers. 3 volumes

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Zi Chang Tang. Principles of Conflict: Recompilation and

New English Translation with Annotation on Sunzi’s

Art of War. San Rafael, Calif.: T. C. Press, 1969.

Su Shi (Su Shih, Su Tung-po)

(1037–1101)

poet

Su Shi was born in Meishan in the Sichuan (Szech-

wan) Province of China. He was educated at home

by his Buddhist parents and then later at a private

school by a Taoist priest. In 1056, he went to the

capital, Kaifeng, with his older brother to take the

civil service examination. Both brothers passed

with distinction. In 1060, after observing the cus-

tomary three-year mourning period following his

mother’s death, Su Shi returned to the capital with

his father and brother, and all were assigned gov-

ernment posts.

During his first years in the government, Su Shi

became an outspoken critic of the reform pro-

gram, the “New Laws,” of the ruling party in Kai-

feng. In 1079, he fell out of favor with the leader of

the ruling party, Wan Anshi (Wang An-shih), and

was tried for slander. The “New Laws” party used

Su Shi’s own poems as evidence against him, and

the poet was banished to Huangzhou (Huang-

chou), an insignificant town on the banks of the

Yangtze River. Su Shi was able to return to the cap-

ital the following year, after the “New Laws” party

lost power. He was banished a second time, how-

ever, when the party returned to favor in 1094. He

remained in southern China for the rest of his life

and never returned to the capital. Because of Su

Shi’s political situation, most of his poems were

banned during his lifetime, and it was not until

after his death that his works were widely distrib-

uted and read.

Despite his political failings, Su Shi was one of

the great poets of the Sung dynasty, and more than

2,400 of his poems have survived. His poetry was

heavily influenced by the Buddhist and Taoist edu-

cation he received in his youth. During his political

career, he spent a great deal of time visiting Bud-

dhist temples, and many of his poems reflect his on-

going association with the Zen Buddhist school of

thought, as can be seen in these lines from “Water

Music Prelude” (addressed to his younger brother):

The moon should have no regrets.

Why is she always at the full when men are

separated?

Men have their woe and joy, parting and

meeting;

The moon has her dimness and brightness,

waxing and waning.

Never from of old has been lasting

perfection.

I only wish that you and I may be ever well

and hale,

That both of us may watch the fair moon,

even a thousand miles apart.

Su Shi experimented with all styles of poetry:

five- or seven-character shi (shih) poems; ci (tz’u),

or songs; and rhapsodic prose poems called fu.

Most of his works deal with his personal life and

his deep Taoist connection to nature. Perhaps the

best example of Su Shi’s ability to connect nature

with emotion can be found in his poem “Tune:

The Charms of Nien-nu,” which he wrote 10 years

after his wife passed away:

Last night in a dream I returned home

And at the chamber window

Saw you at your toilet;

We looked at each other in silence and

melted into tears.

I cherish in my memory year by year the

place of heartbreaking,

In the moonlit night

The knoll of short pines.

Su Shi’s brilliance is evident not only in the

sheer volume of his poems, but also in his poignant

Su Shi 291

expression of emotion. As translator Burton Wat-

son remarks,“A great [poet] had to have such com-

plete mastery of the [poetic] tradition that he could

at the same time express his own thoughts freely

and naturally, and could advance and enrich the

tradition in some way, adding new depth and nu-

ance. This [Su Shi] did.”

English Versions of Works by Su Shi

Su Tung-p’o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Poet.

Translated by Burton Watson. New York: Colum-

bia University Press, 1965.

The Prose-Poetry of Su Tung-p’o. Translated by Cyril

Drummond Le Gros Clark. New York: Paragon,

1964.

A Work about Su Shi

Egan, Ronald C. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of

Su Shi. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University

Press, 1994.

292 Su Shi

293



Tacitus, Cornelius (ca. 56–ca. 120)

historian, biographer, essayist

Tacitus was born into a wealthy family in Northern

Italy. He received an education appropriate for a

Roman from a good family, mastering public

speaking skills, oratory, and debate. Throughout

his life, he occupied prestigious high-ranking posi-

tions in the Roman Empire, beginning his career as

a senator, then becoming a consul and, finally, a

governor of Anatolia, one of the largest provinces

of the empire. Most of what we know about Taci-

tus’s life comes from his works and letters he ex-

changed with his good friend PLINY THE YOUNGER.

Though Tacitus was very successful politically,

it is as a historian and moralist that he is best re-

membered. As a writer of history, he sought “to dis-

tinguish right from wrong, the useful from the

dangerous” (Annales 4, 33). As a result, much of his

writing is focused on denouncing the Roman em-

perors for their cruelty, attributing the decline of

the Roman Empire to this and other imperial vices.

In the year 98, Tacitus wrote his first work, Agri-

colae De Vita Iulii, a biography of his father-in-law,

after whom the book is named. In this work, Taci-

tus expresses his respect and admiration for Agri-

cola as a highly virtuous man. Soon after, he wrote

the treatise Concerning the Origin and Location of

the Germans, commonly called Germania (Ger-

many, ca. 98). Although the book contains a de-

tailed description of the customs and geographic

locations of Germanic tribes, it is not an objective

ethnographic study since the essence of the work is

political. It is colored with subtle irony toward

some of the German tribes’ primitive customs, de-

scriptions that glorify the simple German way of

life, and comparisons of these with the corruption

and luxurious immorality of the Romans.

Around the year 81, Tacitus composed his Dia-

logus de Oratoribus (Dialogue on Orators), an essay

on education, the art of oratory in Rome, and ora-

tory’s decline. It is written in the style of

CICERO

and, as was typical of the declamatory genre, is rich

with rhetorical figures and metaphors, illustrating

Tacitus’s talent as an expressive speaker. He became

one of the foremost prosecutors of his day, but

after the year 100 he gradually devoted more time

to writing until his death in Rome.

Critical Analysis

Tacitus is most famous for his Annals (ca.

115–117) and Histories (ca. 104–109). In these his-

torical works, the traditional declamatory writing

is replaced by a highly individual, polished style

that makes use of rich vocabulary and diverse sen-

tence structure and is reminiscent of LONGINUS.

Both works contain bitter criticism of imperial

power. Tacitus believed that the emperor had so

much power that no one could occupy the throne

without being corrupted by that power. Therefore,

his history is a tale of a succession of corrupt

despots, lust for power, and government scandal.

Histories presents a history of the Roman Em-

pire from the year 69 until the death of Domitian

in 96. The original work comprised 14 books, but

only the first four books and part of the fifth have

survived.

Tacitus’s later work, Annals, of which 16 books

are preserved, is a history of the emperors from

Augustus to Nero (37–68). Throughout Histories

and Annals, Tacitus makes good use of sarcasm.

The surviving fragments describe the revolt by the

northern tribes of Gaul, their defeat at the hands of

the Roman army, and the establishment of the Pax

Romana (Roman Peace) in the Gallic territories.

While he describes some emperors, namely Augus-

tus, with belittling innuendos, he describes others

with severe criticism. Emperor Tiberius, for exam-

ple, is portrayed as sinister and cruel, a man who

purges his opponents from the Senate by having

them tried for treason and executed. Claudius and

Nero are painted in similarly dark colors. The ac-

count contains incisive character sketches, ironic

passages, and eloquent moral conclusions about

how the Roman character was declining due to the

lack of character in its rulers. In Annals, Tacitus

remains faithful to the spirit of passionate criticism

of the emperors’ cruelty and inhumanity. Thus, he

describes the terror that Nero imposed on Chris-

tians who deviated from the traditional worship

of Greco-Roman gods:

Nero created a diversion and subjected to the

most extra-ordinary tortures those hated for

their abominations by the common people

called Christians. Mockery of every sort was

added to their deaths....Covered with the

skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and per-

ished, or were nailed to crosses, or were

doomed to the flames. These served to illumi-

nate the night when daylight failed”

(Annales 15, 44)

Tacitus’s works differ from the usual panegyric

writing, which expresses admiration of the deeds

of those in power regardless of their actions. By

contrast, Tacitus provides a new perspective on the

personalities and deeds of these great historical fig-

ures, allowing for a better understanding of the

events and people who colored his world.

English Versions of Works by

Cornelius Tacitus

Agricola and Germany. Translated by Anthony Birley.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Annals and the Histories. Translated by Alfred J.

Church and William J. Brodribb. New York: Ran-

dom House, 2003.

Histories. Book I. Edited by Cynthia Damon et al.

Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press,

2003.

Tacitus: Dialogus de Oratoribus. Edited by Roland

Mayer et al. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 2001.

Works about Cornelius Tacitus

Haynes, Holly. The History of Make-Believe: Tacitus on

Imperial Rome. Berkeley: University of California

Press, 2003.

Mellor. Ronald. Tacitus. London: Routledge, 1994.

O’Gorman, Ellen. Irony and Misreading in the Annals

of Tacitus. New York: Cambridge University Press,

2000.

Tale of Genji, The

See MURASAKI SHIKIBU.

Talmud (ca. 200–ca. 550)

The Talmud is a collection of writings concerning

Jewish religious and civil law. It contains scriptural

interpretations of the Five Books of Moses (Gene-

sis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Num-

bers) as well as complete guidelines according to

the rabbinic authorities for human conduct in

daily life. Known as the Oral Torah because it was

handed down and built upon by teachers through

294 Tale of Genji, The

the ages, the Talmud is studied together with the

Written Torah (the Five Books of Moses, the

Prophets, and the Scrolls) and forms the core of

Jewish learning. The Talmud is considered the next

most important text in the Jewish religion after the

BIBLE itself.

The Talmud was born in the wake of the cata-

strophic destruction of the Second Temple in

Jerusalem by the Romans in 586 B.C. The Temple

had been the core of the Jewish people who were

forced to leave Israel and became scattered

throughout Babylon. In an effort to keep the Jew-

ish people unified, exiled leaders who possessed

the ancient Jewish teachings in the form of oral

and written doctrine from the Temple established

study houses. In these houses, which came to be

known as synagogues, sacred learning was avail-

able to the Jewish masses. This development in Ju-

daism, though spawned by dire necessity, was

revolutionary. Until the destruction of the Tem-

ple, only the priests had been allowed to read the

doctrines. The result of mass learning and prayer

in the synagogues instilled in the exiles a love of

Jewish scripture, creating the need for a new class

of teachers.

The foremost of these teachers was a religious

scholar named Ezra, who adapted the ancient doc-

trines to make them appropriate for a group of

people living in exile. He then founded what was

called the Great Assembly, a core group of teach-

ers to whom he gave the amended doctrine. He saw

this doctrine as a way of instructing people to live

a moral and ethical life that would unify them with

one another and with God, thus preserving the ex-

istence and integrity of the Jewish people. The

members of the Great Assembly, in turn, gave this

doctrine to the teachers in the synagogues.

The passage of time and the political and social

changes that occurred demonstrated the need for

the Torah to be a living document that could be

adapted to the Jews’ changing lives. Thus the

teachers, or rabbis, developed the Talmudic

method of scriptural interpretation, a systematic

way of questioning scripture, finding answers

through the use of intellect and reason, to under-

stand what God wants for and from his people.

The result of this method of religious study re-

sulted in the development of an exhaustive code

of conduct that applied to every aspect of human

life, including marriage and bodily hygiene. The

rabbis taught this code to the masses in the syna-

gogues, both in Palestine and throughout Babylon.

As the Talmud’s founding teacher Ezra had held,

the rabbis of generations following also believed

that the devoted study of the Talmud and practice

of its teachings would promote the individual’s

compassionate treatment of his fellow people and

bring the Jews closer to God.

Critical Analysis

Two versions of the Talmud exist. The first is the

Palestinian Talmud (also called the Jerusalem Tal-

mud), which was written by Palestinian scholars

from the third century to the early fifth century

(ca. 408). The second is the Babylonian Talmud,

which was written by scholars from the third cen-

tury to the early sixth century (ca. 500).

There are numerous historical translations of

and commentaries on the Talmud. The British

rabbi Isidore Epstein was the first scholar to trans-

late the Babylonian Talmud into English, a task

that lasted from 1935 to 1952. The Palestinian Tal-

mud was translated into Latin by the Italian histo-

rian Blasio Ugolino, who titled the work Thesaurus

Antiquitatum Sacrarum (1744–69). Before this,

Moses

MAIMONIDES, a Spanish philosopher and

physician, wrote Mishnah Tora (Repetition of the

Torah, ca. 1180), and French and German rabbis

wrote numerous commentaries on the Talmud

from the 12th to 14th centuries.

The Talmud is composed of three main parts:

the Mishnah, the Gemara, and the Midrash. The

Mishnah, completed around 352, contains six sec-

tions called Orders, which are each broken down

into chapters. The Orders deal with laws concern-

ing agriculture, observance of the Sabbath and

other Festivals and Holy Days, women, legal mat-

ters, rituals concerning daily life and dietary laws,

and cleanliness of body and home. The following

example from Dr. Abraham Cohen’s English trans-

Talmud 295

lation of the Talmud concerns medical treatment

and gives an excellent example of the way in which

Talmudic rabbis interpreted scripture to promote

ethical treatment of human beings:

If the patient says he wants something and the

physician says he may not have it, the former

is listened to. For what reason? “The heart

knoweth its own bitterness.”

(Proverbs 14:10)

The Gemara, as it has been recorded, is actually

a series of lively debates between scholars and stu-

dents who disagreed on the interpretations found

in the Mishnah. This form of scholarly debate pro-

vides the system of Jewish learning and continues

to this day.

The third portion of the Talmud is the Midrash

(derived from the Hebrew word darash, meaning

“to reason or search out”), which was developed

during the same period as the Mishnah. A Midrash

can best be described as a story the rabbis invented

to answer questions that arise from passages in the

Bible that seem unclear. The story is then used as a

tool for understanding God’s will for mankind. For

example, in Genesis 1:27, the Bible says: “So God

created man in his own image, in the image of God

created he him; male and female created he them.”

The story of God’s creation of woman from

Adam’s rib does not occur until Chapter 2 in Gen-

esis. The rabbis used midrash to explain this gap by

creating the legendary story of Lilith, the first

woman, who would not act as a helpmate to Adam.

In the midrash, Lilith treats Adam as an enemy

rather than as a husband; therefore, she is banished

from the Garden of Eden to wander as a demon.

The Rabbis used this story to show the importance

of a man and woman’s cooperation in life.

The Talmud has proven to be the unifying force

its originators intended it to be, and history attests

to this cohesive force. With the rise and passing of

numerous cultures throughout the centuries, Ju-

daism as a religion and culture has survived and

continues to thrive.

English Versions of the Talmud

Talmud. Translated by H. Polano. Whitefish, Mont.:

Kessinger, 2003.

The Jerusalem Talmud. Edited by Heinrich W.

Guggenheimer. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2000.

Wit and Wisdom of the Talmud: Proverbs, Sayings, and

Parables for the Ages. Edited by George J. Lanke-

vich. Garden City Park, N.Y.: Square One Publish-

ers, 2001.

Works about the Talmud

Bokser, Ben Zion. The Wisdom of the Talmud. New

York: Kensington, 2001.

Cohen, Norman J. The Way into Torah. Woodstock,

Vt.: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004.

Grishaver, Joel Lurie. Talmud with Training Wheels:

Courtyards and Classrooms. Los Angeles: Torah

Aura Productions, 2004.

Kolatch, Alfred J. Masters of the Talmud: Their Lives

and Views. Middle Village, N.Y.: Jonathan David

Publishers, 2001.

Rubenstein, Jeffrey L. The Culture of the Babylonian

Talmud. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity Press, 2003.

tanka Japanese poetic form

A tanka poem comprises 31 syllables, ordered into

five lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven sylla-

bles, respectively. The form dominated Japanese

poetry for more than 1,000 years. Today the haiku

has in some ways replaced tanka in popularity, but

the tanka form is still quite commonly used. Since

it is somewhat longer than haiku, tanka has a more

lyrical quality and is highly valued for its concise

nature:

I shall pass away

soon. To keep your memory

in that other world

I so long to see your face

again, for just one last time.

(Izumi Shikibu)

296 tanka

Tanka poets rely on internal alliteration (the

repetition of consonants), assonance (the repeti-

tion of vowels), an absence of rhyme, and the use

of concrete images to express intense emotional

experiences and moods and to describe everyday

events.

An English Version of Works by Tanka Poets

The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono No Komachi

and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of

Japan. Translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko

Aratani. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.

Tao Yuanming (T’ao Yüan-ming, Tao

Qian [Tao Ch’ien])

(365–427) poet

Tao Yuanming was one of the first in the tradition

of the Chinese recluse poets; HAN SHAN is another

notable example. Tao spent the early part of his life

as a government official after the collapse of the

Han dynasty. This tumultuous period in Chinese

history was marked by intermittent clan wars,

weak rulers, and political instability. As a result, the

life of many government officials at the time was

fraught with danger. Tao’s Confucian principles

made him loathe to support or serve a government

that was not equal to his ideals. These principles

conflicted with the only avenue that was available

to him for living a life of wealth and privilege. In

“The Return,” he says, “My instinct is all for free-

dom, and will not brook discipline or restraint.

Hunger and cold may be sharp, but this going

against myself really sickens me.” Finally, at age 40,

Tao’s principles rose to the forefront, and he

abruptly resigned his government post, retiring

with his family to a farm in the Lu Mountains.

Tao Yuanming, whose name translates as “the

recluse Tao,” found true happiness after his retire-

ment. He wrote many pastoral poems extolling the

virtues of the simple life to be found on a farm.

While he and his family lived in poverty, Tao found

his life in the mountains to be much more reward-

ing than his former career: “My home remains un-

soiled by worldly dust / Within bare rooms I have

my peace of mind.” (“Returning to the Farm to

Dwell,” ll. 17–18).

Tao Yuanming’s poems reflect his calmness and

the joy he found in moments of idleness. He wrote

often about honor, the ills of seeking money, and

the pleasures of observing nature and sharing

good wine with friends. His lyrics served as models

for many great poets, such as WEI ZHUANG, LI BAI,

and Tu Fu, who followed.

An English Version of Works by

Tao Yuanming

The Selected Poems of T’ao Ch’ien. Translated by

David Hinton. Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper

Canyon Press, 1993.

A Work about Tao Yuanming

Hightower, James R. and Florence Chia-Ying Yeh.

Studies in Chinese Poetry. Cambridge, Mass.: Har-

vard University Press, 1998.

Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd (543–ca. 569)

poet

Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd is one of the most im-

portant poets of the pre-Islamic Arabic world and

one of the seven celebrated authors of the

Mu‘allaq¯at, (the Golden Odes; see HANGED POEMS).

Born into the Bakr tribe in the Bahrain region of

the Persian Gulf, Tarafah led a life that is a matter

of colorful legend. Traditional accounts claim that

in his youth he developed dissolute habits as well

as a talent for satire, which led to his exile from the

tribe. After gaining recognition for his mu’allaqah,

or ode, he—along with his uncle and fellow poet

Mutalammis—was favored by Amr ibn Hind, who

became king of al-Hirah in 554.

It was said that Tarafah’s sarcastic tongue soon

caused trouble because of a verse in which he de-

clared he would rather have a bleating sheep than

Amr bin Hind around his tent. Lascivious advances

to the king’s sister, a reported beauty, earned Tarafah

and his uncle a mission to return to Bahrain with a

pair of sealed letters for the governor. Mutalammis

Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd 297

opened his and discovered its contents contained

a death warrant, which he quickly destroyed.

Tarafah, determined to meet his fate, delivered his

letter and was thereupon imprisoned and exe-

cuted. His early and avoidable death (tradition

held that he was still in his 20s) earned him the title

“the murdered lad.”

Though other fragments of his poetry survive

in various collections, Tarafah is best known for his

qasidah of about 100 lines. The qasidah was a pop-

ular form of poetry that generally contained two

sections: a glimpse of the beloved and then an en-

forced exile involving a dangerous journey

through the desert, where the poet’s only compan-

ion was his camel. Tarafah’s ode contains the tradi-

tional description of the beloved, which according

to translator A. J. Arberry in The Seven Odes trans-

lates to a “young gazelle, dark-lipped, fruit-shak-

ing.” It also gives a quite detailed and extensive

description of the camel.

Tarafah’s ode incorporates themes that proba-

bly helped fuel the legends about his rebellious and

libertine ways. Historian Reynold Nicholson, in A

Literary History of the Arabs, calls Tarafah’s mu’al-

laqa “a spirited portrait of himself.” His ode shows

his appreciation for and generosity with his khamr,

or wine, in these reckless lines (translated by Philip

Kennedy in The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Po-

etry): “Whenever you come to me in the morning,

I give you a cup of wine that quenches your thirst;

if you can do without it, then do without it and

more!” Elsewhere Tarafah offers his philosophy on

life, sagely saying, “A noble man satiates himself in

life, for you will know / if we die tomorrow which

of us is thirsty.” Kennedy calls this “the clearest and

most direct expression of

CARPE DIEM [seize the

day],” which seems to be the poet’s personal motto.

Tarafah’s ode also incorporates the classic ele-

ment of fakhr, or self-glorification. He portrays

himself as important and the center of attention,

claiming, “I am not one that skulks fearfully

among the hilltops .../ ifyou look for me in the

circle of the folk you’ll find me there.” The qasidah

frequently ends with a celebration of pleasure and

an image of repatriation into the tribe. The im-

ages in Tarafah’s homecoming involve all three of

his favorite things—wine, boon companions, and

a beautiful woman—indicating, as Nicholson says,

the poet’s “insistence on sensual enjoyment as the

sole business of life.”

In the century following Tarafah’s death, Ara-

bic poetry changed in significant ways. The first

movement of the qasidah evolved into the ghazal, a

highly influential form of love poetry. In the 600s,

the birth of the prophet

MUHAMMAD brought pro-

found changes to Arabic culture with the intro-

duction of Islam, and the poetry changed in tone.

The Mu‘allaq¯at was compiled in the mid-eighth

century by Hamm¯ad al-R¯awiyah, who selected

seven poets as the exemplars of pre-Islamic poetry.

IMRU’AL-QAYS, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma, LABID, Antara

ibn Shaddad, ‘AMR IBN KULTHUM (the very king

supposedly responsible for Tarafah’s death), and

al-Harith join Tarafah in this esteemed group.

Mu‘allaq¯at is traditionally interpreted to mean “the

suspended ones,” alluding to a practice where the

prize-winning works of poetry contests would be

written out in letters of gold and suspended, or

hung, for viewing in a public place. Later compil-

ers added to or changed the Mu‘allaq¯at as they

wished, but Tarafah is customarily included. His

appeal endures not only in his fantastic biography

of a daring rebel killed in his prime, but also in the

evidence of his poetic gifts and his personal reso-

lution to live life to the fullest.

An English Version of a Work by

Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd

“The Ode of Tarafah.” In The Seven Odes: The First

Chapter in Arabic Literature. Translated by A. J. Ar-

berry. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1957.

Works about Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd

Kennedy, Philip F. The Wine Song in Classical Arabic

Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Nicholson, Reynold A. A Literary History of the Arabs.

New York: Kegan Paul International, 1998.

298 Tarafah ‘Amr ibn al-‘Abd

telapnaawe narratives (telapnanne

narratives)

Zuni tales

For more than 2,000 years, the Zuni were pueblo

dwellers in what is now New Mexico. Today, only

about 12,000 Zuni still live in New Mexico, but

their culture is rich with tradition, religion, art,

music, and dance.

Religion, which is at the center of the Zuni cul-

ture, is told through stories and myths. Similar to

the Winnebago WAIKAN and WORAK NARRATIVES

Zuni myths and folktales are divided into two

types: creation stories known as chimiky’ana’kowa

(meaning “the beginning”), based on true events;

and telapnaawe (or telapnanne), entertaining, fic-

tional stories. The creation stories are told only by

priests during religious ceremonies. Telapnaawe

narratives, on the other hand, are relayed by

telaapi, or storytellers, who tell their tales only dur-

ing the winter.

Zuni scholar Dennis Tedlock notes that the

telapnaawe begin with a traditional exchange be-

tween storyteller and listener. The listener will ask

the telaapi to “take up a tale,” to which he will re-

spond,“Now we take it up.” The tales can last from

30 minutes to one hour or longer. The stories’ sub-

jects range from the trickster Coyote (see

COYOTE

TALES) to marriage, family, and hunting.

Some telapnaawe tales include “The Boy and

the Deer,” a story about a boy who is raised by deer;

“The Hopis and the Famine,” a story of a scorned

husband who seeks revenge by causing a famine;

and “The Girl Who Took Care of the Turkeys,” a

story about a girl who abandons the turkeys she

cares for to go to a dance.

Frank Hamilton Cushing was the first white

American to collect and translate Zuni myths. He

lived with the Zuni in the late 19th century and

published many books and articles on Zuni cul-

ture. In the 20th century, anthropologist Franz

Boas and his student Ruth Benedict also studied

Zuni culture and published numerous works on

the subject. Scholar Dennis Tedlock translated

many Zuni tales into English, maintaining the

complexity and integrity of the Zuni originals.

English Versions of Telapnaawe Narratives

Benedict, Ruth. Zuni Mythology. New York: Columbia

University Press, 1935.

Cushing, Frank Hamilton. Zuni Folk Tales. New York:

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1901.

Peynetsa, Andrew and Walter Sanchez. Finding the

Center: The Art of Zuni Storytelling. Translated by

Dennis Tedlock. Lincoln: University of Nebraska

Press, 1999.

Works about Telapnaawe Narratives

Shell, Marc. American Babel: Literatures of the United

States from Abnaki to Zuni. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press, 2002.

Tedlock, Barbara. The Beautiful and the Dangerous:

Encounters with the Zuni Indians. Albuquerque:

University of New Mexico Press, 2001.

Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) (ca. 185–

159 B.C.) playwright

Terence was born in Carthage to Libyan parents

and brought to the Roman Empire as a slave. His

family name, Afer, means “African,” which proba-

bly reflects his origin. His owner was a Roman sen-

ator, Terentius Lucanus, who quickly recognized

his slave’s ability and not only emancipated Ter-

ence but also provided him with a classical Roman

education. Terence became popular among the

Roman aristocracy and was also highly respected

by such distinguished thinkers as CICERO and HOR-

ACE. He died an early, tragic death; before he

turned 30, he was lost at sea during his journey to

Greece. It is said that Terence translated 108 of

MENANDER’s plays, all of which were lost in the

same shipwreck.

Terence wrote his first play, Andria (The Maid

from Andros), when he was only 19. The play is a

romantic comedy about a long-lost daughter’s re-

turn to her home, a story Terence adapted from

one of Menander’s plays.

Like PLAUTUS, Terence adapted Greek plays from

the late phases of Attic comedy (farcical dramas

that evolved from fertility rites mixed with song

Terence 299

and rudimentary dialogue produced in the region

known as Attica during the third and fourth cen-

turies B.C.). However, he differed from his prede-

cessor in his choice of style. While Plautus wrote

for the Roman public, who were hungry for any-

thing vulgar, Terence delighted in subtle irony and

refined yet natural expression. In addition, Ter-

ence’s plots far surpassed those of Plautus.

A perfectionist, Terence polished his works

until they were flawless. He wrote only six plays,

all of which survive to this day, and his skill pro-

gressed with each completed work. First staged in

160, The Eunuch, a tale of the love exploits of two

brothers, was met with such success that it was per-

formed twice a day. Other plays include Adelphi

(The Brothers), in which Terence explores how the

upbringing of two brothers (one strict, the other

not) affects their behavior as adults; Hecyra (The

Mother-in-Law), in which a man discovers that he

is the one who raped his wife and got her pregnant;

and The Phormio, which is based on one of APOL-

LODORUS’s plays and tells the story of how a syco-

phant helps two brothers convince their father to

accept their lovers.

Terence’s refined comedies remained popular

throughout the MIDDLE AGES and the Renaissance.

The medieval playwright Hroswitha of Gander-

sheim claims to have written her plays so that her

nuns would spend less time reading Terence. His

comedies also influenced the works of a number of

later authors. Molière adapted Terence’s Phormio

in one of his earliest plays, The Trickeries of Scapin

(1671), and Richard Steele adapted Terence’s An-

dria in his play The Conscious Lovers (1722).

English Versions of Works by Terence

The First Comedy of Pub. Terentius, Called Andria.

Translated by Joseph Webbe. London: Scolar

Press, 1972.

Plautus and Terence: Five Comedies. Translated by

Deena Berg and Douglass Parker. Indianapolis,

Ind.: Hackett Publishing, 1999.

Terence: Eunuchus. Edited by John Barsby et al. New

York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Terence: The Woman of Andros, The Self-Tormentor,

The Eunuch, Vol. 1. Translated by John Barsby.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,

2001.

Works about Terence

Leigh, Matthew. Comedy and the Rise of Rome. Ox-

ford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Moore, Timothy J. “Terence and Roman New Com-

edy” in Greek and Roman Comedy: Translations

and Interpretations of Four Representative Plays.

Translated by George F. Franko, et. al. Edited by

Shawn O’Bryhim. Austin: University of Texas

Press, 2001.

Theophrastus (Tyrtamus) (ca. 372–ca.

287 B.C.) philosopher, rhetorician, scientist,

teacher, nonfiction writer

The son of a fuller, or cloth handler, Theophrastus

was born in Eresus on the island of Lesbos. Certain

biographers suggest he studied at

PLATO’s Academy

in Athens. By age 25 he had formed close ties with

Plato’s favorite student and successor

ARISTOTLE,

whom he accompanied to the court of Philip of

Macedonia when Aristotle was hired to tutor the

young prince Alexander. Upon their joint return to

Athens in 334, Aristotle founded the Peripatetic

school, where Theophrastus became his most

gifted student. After Alexander’s death, the Athe-

nian democracy experienced civil disorder as vari-

ous persons struggled for control of the city.

Theophrastus spent a year in exile when a political

decree banished all philosophers, but in 306, when

the decree was revoked, he returned and took over

as head of the Peripatetic. Under his leadership, the

school enjoyed the peak of its influence and suc-

cess, attracting more than 2,000 students. When

Theophrastus died, Athenians accompanied his

bier on foot as a mark of honor.

Originally named Tyrtamus, Theophrastus,

which means “divine speaker,” earned the name by

which he is known through his impressive com-

mand of rhetoric. STRABO said that “Aristotle made

300 Theophrastus