ashokbanker.com

“Banker, a well-respected author in

“Banker, a

well-respected author in his own country, intends in this opening

novel to a forthcoming trilogy to recreate and retell the Ramayana

of Valmiki which, along with Mahabharata, are the two greatest works

of epic Vedic mythic literature, on par with the Homeric epics,

Plato and the Christian gospels, and predating all three. Nor is

this the limit of his aspiration, as he intends to follows this

effort with rewrites of the aforementioned Mahabharata, as well as

the tales of Krishna and Ganesha. If successful, he will advance the

knowledge and reading of these great works of Aryan and Asian

literature into the mainstream of Western popular culture; a feat

worthy of any author’s ambition indeed! In this opening novel Banker

admirably adheres to the premise of the original text,

reconstructing the story of Prince Rama and the spiritual and

martial tests of his youth. In doing so, the author captures a

mythology refreshingly different and distinct from the usual Western

fare of dragons and faerie, sure to titillate the by-now-jaded

fantasy reader. Additionally, he eschews complete translation,

adding a cultural element through language that at least one other

critic (Carolyn Cushman, Locus, October, 2003) found distracting,

but which I found in large part understandable within context, and

justifiable in terms of cultural identity; for those who are anal or

too obtuse to extrapolate meaning, a glossary is provided. Banker’s

loyalty to the spirit and cultural identity of the original text and

mythos is obvious and to be applauded.” SF Site on Prince of

Ayodhya

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 8:57 pm. It is filed under Ashok. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.