Umesiben Mama -- A Study of the Shamanic Epic of Northern China
Author: Guo Shuyun
Translated by Liang Yanjun, Liu Ying
Edited by Daniel Kister
ISBN: 978-1-84464-488-9
Hardback-340 Pages
April 2019
English
£85 €105 $135
Umesiben Mama is an ancient heroic epic of the East Sea Jurchen ancestors of the Manchu, an ethnic minority in Northern China. It was originally written in verse in the Manchu language, and it was popular around the basin of the Ussuri River. It describes the merits and great undertakings of a heroine named Umesiben, a female Jurchen shaman. It depicts war scenes in chant verse of over 6,000 lines and 63,500 words. The author has systematically investigated and analyzed its epic features, artistic characteristics, and literary value for the first time from the perspectives of tribal community, shamanistic culture, and the fishing and hunting culture of the East Sea Jurchen.
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