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Article: A Turkish Folktale: The Art of Behcet Mahir.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- World Literature Today
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Warren S. Walker, an eminent scholar of Turkish folklore, has produced a fascinating work featuring the full text of a major folktale told by a premier Turkish storyteller on five successive evenings in January 1977. It is an action-filled legend about the heroic deeds and extraordinary, often surreal, events in the life of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, who was often referred to as "sahip kiran," denoting "regal" and "heroic." The story itself becomes entwined with the persona of the master storyteller. It is enriched by his embellishments, asides, interjections, and verses in a spellbinding performance which bears testimony to Walker's statement that Mahir "may well ...