The Cane Groves of Narmada River: Erotic Poems from Old India
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
The Cane Groves of Narmada River: Erotic Poems from Old India
By (Author) Andrew Schelling
City Lights Books
City Lights Books
2nd January 2001
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
891
Physical Properties
Paperback
908
Width 127mm, Height 177mm, Spine 10mm
113g
Description
Of all the world's ancient poetry, that of classical India was the most vividly erotic - by turns uninhibited, tender, sad and joyous. This selection ranges from the 2nd century to the 11th century, and is divided into two sections. The first dates from the earliest secular collection of Indian love poetry, from a society that was rural, agricultural, tribal. The second consists of lyrics from the later court tradition.
Reviews
"The Cane Groves is a brilliant selection of refined, provocative, shivery-lovely poems. It has a generous bibliography and an astute introduction that illuminates both poetics and scholarship with its insights into wealth of nature imagery, the implicit watershed consciousness, and a sense of the Wild as Tryst. What a gem of a book! It's the best gathering of Indian short poems yet."--Gary Snyder
"A teacher of Sanskrit at the Naropa Institute in Colorado, Schelling judiciously selects from a wealth of secular and courtly poems on sex and provides translations (no originals) he assures us are literal. The first section draws from the vernacular erotic poems in the Sattasai (or "Seven Hundred Poems") collected by King Hala in the second century, and are full of rural imagery of sex by rivers and in fields, with attention to positions. The second section of poems from the Sanskrit includes more women's voices, and a more sophisticated sensibility, but follows the same self-contained lyric style, with candid phrases (itchy wombs and "tits sagging"). Though few of these outdoorsy romances come with names of poets attached, Schelling provides an appendix on what we do know about some of them, and also adds a most useful annotated bibliography."--Kirkus Reviews
Author Bio
Andrew Schelling (born January 14, 1953 in Washington D.C.), is an American poet and translator. At Naropa he teaches poetry, Sanskrit, and wilderness writing. He has published seventeen books, which include poetry, translation (from the ancient languages of India), and essays.
