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ADAMS AND EVES EVERYWHERE: The First People in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Adam and Eve are the first ancestors in the shared creation stories of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Spreading out from the Middle East the three religions took their own versions around the world, via rabbis, priests, imams, colonialists, missionaries, migrants and modern media. Popular stories about Adam and Eve, which don't appear in the Bible, lived on through oral story-telling. Where was Paradise located? Did Adam have a beard? Was he circumcised? Did Adam and Eve have a navel? Did they have sex in the Garden of Eden? How did Satan get into Paradise? The how and why of creation, Paradise, the snake and the Fall has inspired story-tellers and artists from every corner
of the earth. Mineke Schipper has written an intriguing book
about the stories and images of the three religions, often unknown,
for contemporary believers and non-believers, for all curious
descendants of Adam and Eve.
Prometheus NL
Material: Finished copies of the Dutch edition (285pp).
Where did the first people come from? Were they thrown out of heaven – or did they crawl up out of the earth? Did God make them because he was lonely? Were we made out of nothing? Or from gods’ sweat, seed or tears, or possibly from silver, gold, stone or clay? There was no one around to take notes but stories tell us what really happened. Those stories also explain why there are men and women. All cultures answer universal questions about the beginnings of mankind – in orthodox, unorthodox often hilarious genesis stories. For the first time these answers are collected together in a unique book, profound fears can be read between the lines. And the echoes of old myths resonate in today’s human interactions.
Prometheus NL
Sansuya Korea
NTV Yayuncilik Turkey
Aletheia Poland
Libri Hungary
Hara Shobo Japan
Material: English and Dutch text ready.
Since the beginning of time people have told stories about how the world will end. If the world had a beginning it will surely also have an end. Floods, fire, gods wiping humans off the face of the earth because of over-crowding, bad behaviour by us humans, arguments between gods…
Looking at various cultures from around the world Mineke tells us these apocalyptic stories. Many common themes occur and the way the ancients envisaged our demise has eerie echoes today. From a story-teller and cultural anthropologist at the height of her powers, comes this fascinating book.
Prometheus NL
Material: Dutch edition (171pp), material in English.
Mineke Schipper is a successful novelist as well as a writer of fascinating non-fiction books. Her new novel stars Laura and Daniel, both around 50 years old, both academics (he a professor of Classics, she a specialist in ancient cultures, in particular stories of Paradise), both in their own different ways beginning life anew. Daniel because he has never really lived and through his journey in the novel finds a way to leave his traumas behind. Laura because she finally breaks away from the memory of her dead husband, the great love of her life and famous war photographer Robert. Drawing powerful parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq (Daniel is a Vietnam veteran) this is a tale about love, loss, parting, new beginnings, lust for life, art and knowledge and stories to live by.
‘An absorbing story of the growth of adult love, and the letting go of past love, in the shadow of America's imperial wars.’ J. M. Coetzee
'A woman travels to the Mekong River to scatter the ashes of her beloved. On the way she befriends an American Vietnam veteran. A novel from the literature academic Mineke Schipper about letting go and starting again. Schipper made her mark recently with the award winning “Never marry a woman with big feet” (2004), a unique reference book with more than 15,000 humiliating proverbs about women from the whole world.' NRC
“Life felt like an empty waiting room where I had to sit without it ever being my turn.” This is how the main character of this novel experiences life after the death of her husband. Because she has to scatter his ashes in the Mekong, she travels with the urn to Asia. There she meets Daniel, a Vietnam veteran, whose son shortly after dies in Baghdad. A clear, subtly narrated novel about mourning. MS also wrote:”Never marry a woman with big feet” about the woman in proverbs.' Trouw
Prometheus NL
Material: Dutch finished copies.
WINNER OF THE EUREKA INTERMEDIAIR PRIZE 2005 - BEST NON-FICTION BOOK
Also nominated in the Eureka Furore Category - Best Female Achievement
The Sena in Malawi and Mozambique have a proverb: 'Never marry a wife with bigger feet than your own.' And the Chinese have an astonishingly similar message. In cultures all over the world, the ideal woman has been depicted in proverbial form - in the author's words, 'the world's smallest literary genre'. This extensive corpus of proverbs from 245 languages delineates the feminine ideal and vilifies her fear-inducing counterpart - the talented, intelligent, powerful, defiant, or occult woman.
Proverbs perpetuate contrasting views of men and women. Men are inexorable tyrants, shameless profiteers, as well as insecure, fearful beings. Women are lamentable victims, and yet extremely powerful. These contradictions are exposed directly and surreptitiously in proverbs, a language in which very little appears to change and yet change is constant as male and female roles and domains become increasingly integrated.
Structured to represent the focus of the proverb genre, NEVER MARRY A WOMAN WITH BIG FEET collates and draws global conclusions from the experience of woman both interculturally and physically – women's bodies, both in terms of different parts of the body and its beautification; phases of life, from girls to brides, wives, co-wives, widows, mother-in-law, grandmothers; women's basics of life, such as love, sex, pregnancy and childbirth; female power. This is a stylish critical anthology, a unique and incomparable resource.
'The great eighteenth-century Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico believed that despite all the cultural differences, there must be 'a mental language common to all nations' that made communication possible among different nations, and he found proof of this common language in the numerous comparable proverbs and maxims discernible everywhere in the world. With her excellent book, Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from around the World, Professor Mineke Schipper not only offers a wealth of textual evidence of the existence of such a common language, but also enables us to understand and appreciate women's lives, ideas, and wisdom that show a certain universal significance in their very social and cultural diversity. This makes a remarkable contribution to women's studies, and to the study of comparative and world literature.' Zhang Longxi, Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation, City University of Hong Kong
'Schipper's prose is light, fast-paced and witty, and her analysis of what lies behind the proverbs is completely gripping.' Sunday Telegraph
'...no one who casually picks it up will be able to put it down, as gems of inspired sayings, bon mots, zanyjokes, and insightful analyses leap out of every page.' Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago
'This is an entertaining, adroit examination of how far woman has come in man's estimation, and how far she still has to go.' Publishers Weekly
'[A] fascinating analysis of more than 15,000 proverbs...an engrossing book.' Times Literary Supplement
'...a lively and sharply pointed book... Feminist authors and teachers will be analyzing and gratefully quoting her material for at least a generation.' National Post, Canada
‘A fine contribution to the cosmopolitan conversation that ought to come with globalization.’ K. Anthony Appiah, Princeton University
'...enthralling, amusing and alarming in equal measures.' Conscience Magazine
Also shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2004
Here are some example proverbs, many more of which can be found in NEVER MARRY A WOMAN WITH BIG FEET:
A husband at home is like a flea in your ear. (Spanish, Chile)
No evil is as bad as a mother-in-law. (Greek)
Free of her lips, free of her hips. (English)
The thicker the veil, the less it’s worth lifting. (Turkish)
Woman may govern heart and pan, cup and head are for the man. (German)
God protect us from hairy women and beardless men. (Arabic)
Women reason with the womb. (Italian)
An old man who marries a young woman buys a newspaper for others to read it. (Portuguese, Brazil)
Every woman is beautiful in the dark, from a distance, and under an umbrella. (Japanese)
She who offers a half-cooked meal is better than she who offers her buttocks. (Rwanda)
One lame son is more valuable than eighteen golden daughters. (China)
A woman’s heart sees more than men’s eyes (Swedish)
The mouth is a rose, and the tongue a thorn. (Hungarian)
A fat woman is a quilt for the winter. (Multani, India)
A pretty face is a punishment. (Estonia)
Yale University Press (hardback UK and USA)
Prometheus NL
Oceano World Spanish
Eichborn Verlag Germany
Dar el Shorouk Egypt (Arabic Language rights)
Partvonal Kiado Hungary
Bertrand Brazil
Bookscope Korea
Sextante Editora Portugal
Editions Philippe Rey France
NTV Yayuncilik Turkey
Croatian Philological Society Croatia
English language ebook and paperback Leiden University Press
Previous Sales (Rights Reverted):
Spectrum NL