I didn’t know what to say when a friend gave Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti to me as a present many years ago. I have never heard of the publisher or the author. Nowadays, I’m trying to read the authors from different countries a lot more, so I wanted to read this one. Bhutan is one of the rare countries I am curious about. I want to learn more about its culture, and want to visit it before I die. This book made me more curious about it.
I am sure you have heard of the Yeti. This book talks about Yeti, which is a big part of Bhutan culture. Kunzang Choden collected the legends of Yeti, which spread from mouth to mouth and from ear to ear. It was an enjoyable experience to learn about the culture of a country from such a book. But of course, I want to learn a lot more about Bhutan, and I will surely read Choden’s other books. If you are curious about this beautiful country, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too.
Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti
Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti is a collection of twenty-two stories set in four different regions of Bhutan. The presence of the yeti is so ubiquitous to the kingdoms of the Himalayas, where beliefs and attitudes related to it go beyond scientific judgment and analysis. The Bhutanese consider the yeti, or the migoi, to be an essential part of the backdrop of their existence. Believed to possess supernatural powers enabling it to become invisible at will, the yeti often manifests itself in a tangible form and then suddenly vanishes, leaving behind nothing but an unexpected void. Folklore about the abominable snowman has existed for centuries; however, with the far-reaching impact of the media, the perpetuation of this oral tradition is threaten. This collection of stories is an attempt to document a vital tradition before it is wiped out entirely. The book is well illustrated and includes maps of the four regions.
The author Künzang Choden was born in Bumthang, central Bhutan in the year of the dragon (1952). It was during her childhood that Bhutan had opt to shed its self-impose isolation for modernization and socioeconomic development. Several years later, it was the author’s interest in folklore, and so her concern that much of her country’s cultural heritage would be lost in this transitional period, that motivated her to compile the folktales of this remote Himalayan kingdom. She is the first writer to chronicle her country’s oral tradition in English. The Yeti in Bhutan is her second book. She has also wrote Folktales of Bhutan, which was published in 1994 by White Lotus.
Kunzang Choden
Kunzang Choden is a Bhutanese writer. She is the first Bhutanese woman to write a novel in English. Choden was born in Bumthang District. Her parents were feudal landlords. At the age of nine, so her father sent her to school in India, where she learned English.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
