Latest / Beyond the Margins: The University of California Press Podcast
Tony K. Stewart, "Witness to Marvels: Sufism and Literary Imagination" (U California Press, 2019)
There is a vast body of imaginal literature in Bengali that introduces fictional Sufi saints into the complex mythological world of Hindu gods and goddesses. Dating to the sixteenth century, the stories--pīr katha--are still widely read and performed today. The events that play out rival the fabulations of the Arabian Nights, which has led them to be dismissed as simplistic folktales, yet the work of these stories is profound: they provide fascinating insight into how Islam habituated itself into the cultural life of the Bangla-speaking world. In Witness to Marvels: Sufism and Literary…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.