{"product_id":"the-oceans-of-cruelty-twenty-five-tales-of-a-corpse-spirit-a-retelling-paperback","title":"The Oceans of Cruelty: Twenty-Five Tales of a Corpse-Spirit: A Retelling - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDouglas J. Penick\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the oldest books in the world, \u003ci\u003eThe Oceans of Cruelty \u003c\/i\u003eis a sequence of twenty-five tales from India whose central theme is the dark power of storytelling. At the start, a young king falls into the hands of a wicked sorcerer, who orders him to find a vetala, or corpse spirit, to serve him; the young king must do as he is told, and soon enough he is also under the sway of the no less malevolent spirit. Like a bat, the spirit hangs from the branches of a tree, and the king is condemned to bear it on his back through a dark forest as it whispers a riddling story in his ear. These are tales of suicidal passion, clever deceit, patriarchal oppression, and narrow escapes from death, and as long as the king can resolve the problems they pose, his bondage continues; the vampiric creature goes on commanding his attention in the dark. Only when the king is out of answers will he at last be free, though when that comes to pass--well, that's when the whole story takes a new turn. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDouglas Penick's re-creation of this ancient work brings out all its humor and horror and vitality, as well its unmistakable relevance in a world of stories gone viral.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDouglas J. Penick\u003c\/b\u003e has published widely and written texts for operas that have been performed at the Munich Biennale and the Santa Fe Opera. Wakefield Press published his and the late Charles Ré's translation of Pascal Quignard's\u003ci\u003e A Terrace In Rome\u003c\/i\u003e. His book of essays, \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Waiting\u003c\/i\u003e, exploring the sensibility of ecological collapse, came out in 2021 from Arrowsmith Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 184\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 7.9 x 4.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 01, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51752887058720,"sku":"9781681377667","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/778aefeaa670f4c483084adf105b200e.webp?v=1780006897","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-oceans-of-cruelty-twenty-five-tales-of-a-corpse-spirit-a-retelling-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}