The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Book Review)
The only book in this genre I have ever read. I was reared on a heavy dose of Indian mythology, conditioned to read fantasy as mythology. When reading modern fantasy, that conditioning takes hold of me, only to mar the enjoyment this time. Hindu mythology sets out to explain the very origin and sustaining principle of the universe and breaks into legends and lore that capture the peopling of the universe. In doing so, it undertakes the ambitious task of providing a commentary on the alleged historical events. So, w hile reading this book against that background, I was subconsciously seeking a bigger canvas for Rowling's stories. I don't the entire blame for this. The book's preface pushed me in that direction. For Hindus, mythology is an article of faith. Faith prevents us from seeing fantastic elements in our myths as fantasies. Hanuman crossing the ocean in a single leap is an event recorded by witnesses, not poetic imagination. The role of a poet is to compose devotiona...