epic tellings

[Andrew Fort]

Just a note to those interested in a variety of epic
"versions" or "tellings": I teach a course called
"India: Texts and Traditions" which focuses on different
versions of the Raamaayana and Mahaabhaarata.  After
introducing "Hinduism," I start them off with Ed
Dimock et al.'s _The Literatures of India_, and
then use Buck's (cheap) MBh translation, Peter Brook's
video version (alerting them to some of its problems), then
Barbara Stoler Miller's Gita translation and the Amar
Citra Katha comic book telling of the Gita.  I also show
a short portion of the Hindi TV Mahabharata.  We then
turn to R. K. Narayan's Ramayana translation, and Paula
Richman's wonderful _Many Ramayanas_.  We close the epic
section with Phil Lutgendorf's great piece "Ramayan: the
Video" (The Drama Review or TDR 34:2 [summer, 1990]).
For those interested, the course then turns to poetry
and drama.  I use John Brough's Penguin _Poems from the
Sanskrit_ and some of Miller's _Theatre of Memory_.
The course ends with _Songs of Saints of India_ by Hawley
and Juergensmeyer, and parts of Gandhi's _Autobiography_.
I'd certainly be interested in hearing comments on
other tellings which have worked in the classroom.

Andrew O. Fort, Religion Dept.     A.FORT at TCU.EDU
Texas Christian University         Fort Worth TX 76129