Echlin, Kim

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Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Groundwood Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Criticism | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0888994966

Book Description

Long before the Bible, the Koran, and Greek and Roman mythology, the people of Sumer recorded stories of their gods and kings on cuneiform tablets. The world's oldest epic poem, the 4,000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh, tells of a hero who was part god, part man. But a recent discovery uncovered another, equally intriguing hero — Gilgamesh's powerful sister, the goddess Inanna. Inanna embodies the quest for growth. Her stories describe her growth from childish inexperience and youthful exuberance into maturity as she gains the power to create, to destroy, and to name. She is a goddess of spirit and wisdom who outwits and defies the powerful, falls in love with the shepherd Dumuzi, and, like Gilgamesh, dares to seek immortality. The people of Sumer associated her with the planet Venus — radiant, strong, mysterious. Using Sumerian scholarship as a guide, Kim Echlin offers a sensitive and knowledgeable translation of the Inanna stories. Accompanied by the exquisite illustrations of Linda Wolfsgruber, these tales will interest both students of history and myth and anyone who appreciates art and poetry.

Dragons and Dynasties: An Introduction to Chinese Mythology

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Dragons and Dynasties: An Introduction to Chinese Mythology
Yuan Ke
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Chinese | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0140586539

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A gifted writer, spectacular in her love
Fine story, wonderfully told, by truly gifted writer.
A LYRICAL EVOCATION OF ELEPHANTS AND LOVE
Original idea.

Elephant Winter
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Penguin Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0140263500

Amazon.com

Elephant Winter is full of hushed wonders and harsher realities. When 30-year-old Sophie Walker returns to Canada to be with her dying mother, she thinks her stay will be temporary. While the two "settle into the daily business of waiting," she is drawn to her unlikely neighbors, the keeper of the Ontario Safari and his five elephants. Soon enough, in fact, Sophie falls for both Jo and his charges, and decides to record and explore elephant language and mores. Even in captivity, Sophie finds, these creatures strive for the greatest happiness and good for all, a far cry from the individualism of humans.

One visitor in particular is an almost allegorical representation of self-interest at any cost, and Jo seems incapable of banishing him. That would be Alecto Ryle. This unwelcome guest turns out to have made his reputation on sadistic experiments and autopsy reports, not to mention the massacres that enabled them--and now he's hanging around the Safari, waiting for one or more of the animals to die.

In her first novel, Kim Echlin can occasionally be expository, particularly in Sophie's five-part Elephant-English Dictionary. This is a very different beast from the glossary Barbara Gowdy created for The White Bone, but it also has its beauties. Describing one salute, Sophie admits that most keepers "hold in disdain people who romanticize elephants, but I have seen my elephants singing this evening song into the grey Ontario winter twilight. Their bodies appear to soften and shift like clouds on the rocky fields." Though Elephant Winter's human factor is itself gripping, Echlin's evocation of the intimate rapport between her heroine and the creatures she inherits can be sublime. After the matriarch, Kezia, loses her baby, she unshackles herself and escapes. <blockquote> Through the darkness I finally saw her body, swaying down the road where horse farms and vegetable farms were strung like beads through the fields. She walked slowly and alone on that dark country road as if she were memorizing something. Drops of milk hung frozen from her breast. </blockquote> Terrified that Kezia will panic, Sophie realizes that the best thing to do is let her take charge, and puts her arm out: "After an infinite five seconds, she reached out, hooked her trunk around my arm, slowly turned and began to lead me home." Readers not intrigued by elephants or by the possibility of deep communication will not be taken by this lyrical novel--but are there such people? --Kerry Fried

Book Description

Summoned home from Zimbabwe, Sophie Walker has returned to southern Ontario to nurse her dying mother. Her mother's farm borders on a tacky tourist spot called "Safari," and across from the kitchen window Sophie sees a herd of the immense Asian elephants playing in the snow. When the elephant keeper invites her to join in caring for the herd, she discovers a new human-animal relationship by recording and playing back the infrasound rumblings, bellows, and trumpets of the elephants. As she and her mother try to decode an Elephant-English dictionary, Sophie slowly uncovers an elephant culture, one which simultaneously honors the herd and the individual with Zen-like acceptance.

Customer Reviews:

A gifted writer, spectacular in her love.......2002-04-20

'Elephant Winter' is about a young woman who returns home to Canada to look after her ailing mother. Her mother is dying of cancer but is determined to continue to do things she would normally do. The daughter, tired of being inside the house with artwork and bugies, soon becomes friends with Jo, the keeper of the elephants. He's a quiet, shallow man who worms his way into Sophie's effections.
A novel about love, lust, family and elephants, it is amazing to see the sameness that mammels and humans have. I loved Saba, Keiaz and Lear, the elephants. The elephants were not protrayed as animals but as humans with feelings and understandings.
It would be so lovely to be an owner of an elephant and feel the fingers of the trunk on your skin. To become to understand this great beast of nature.
The majestic creatures were interpreted by Echlin through sounds and songs. I particularly enjoyed the dictionary that she provided so that we could learn along with her. Although we will never be able to understand an elephant, it was interesting to learn nonetheless.
The relationship between Jo and Sophie was incredible, rich with agony and love. Nearly pure love.
Read this tale for yourself and you too will fall in love with Echlin and elephants.

Fine story, wonderfully told, by truly gifted writer........2000-04-16

A fine story, wonderfully told, by a truly accomplished writer. Deeply moving tale seems more real than fiction. About a young woman who returns home to help her mother go through the last dying stages of cancer and herself becomes involved with a small herd of captive elephants living nearby at a private tourist attraction. I won't give away the details but urge you to read this book if you enjoy elephants and experiencing emotions.

A LYRICAL EVOCATION OF ELEPHANTS AND LOVE.......1999-09-07

How could any reader fail to be impressed by the originality and beauty of Ms. Eichlin's novel? A friend who has devoted his life to elephants gave me the book in Botswana's Okavango. I was immediately captivated by the author's almost mystical feeling for elephants. Her dictionary of elephant sounds is a triumph which several people who have spent their lives around elephants attest to. Altogether, this is a breathtaking opening act for a talent who will be around for a long long time.

Original idea........1999-07-22

I anticipated loving this book. I love Canada and I love winter, and I love good fiction. But I didn't love this book. I think the idea behind it is precious, but I was not satisfied by the content. The elephant dictionary was painful. The autopsy was shocking and dark, but not dark enough. The prose was not haunting or lyrical. So much more could have been described with the budgies and the artwork. The mute character was not developed to be dark until the end of the book. I was not suspicious of him in the least. The love interest Jo, what a shallow character. I would have omitted the dictionary and developed all the characters and visuals more. Rather than tell me what happened, I would have loved to have been able to feel the cold and taste the smells.

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Elephant Winter
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Viking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q6BISQ

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Elephant Winter
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: PENGUIN USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLL5PY

Elizabeth Smart: A Fugue Essay on Women and Creativity (Women Who Rock)

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Elizabeth Smart: A Fugue Essay on Women and Creativity (Women Who Rock)
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Women's Press (CA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women Writers & Feminist Theory | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Women Writers | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0889614423

Book Description

Elizabeth Smart, author of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, has long been seen as a woman determined by "Romantic" love. In this suggestive new look at her life, Kim Echlin shows that another--and powerful--source of her creativity was rooted in her fearless exploration of the female body and psyche--as daughter, lover of men and women, and mother of four children. Elizabeth Smart bucked tradition from the beginning. The daring and pain and elusive moments of joy in this extraordinary life are told through her diaries, poetry and prose. Echlin brings new material to bear on this reflection including a hundred interviews with family, friends and work colleagues, as well as never before seen letters in which Smart reflects on birth and female creativity. She highlights Elizabeth Smart's unwavering commitment to writing in a voice and aesthetic form that reflects authentic female experience. Smart's subject matters--women's sexuality and relationships--are timeless, but they have been viewed with a cocked eyebrow since the Wife of Bath. Echlin shows how Elizabeth Smart's fearless embrace of her own experience provides the raw life from which she created her art and challenged herself to live and speak her truth.

To Arrive Where You Are: Literary Journalism from The Banff Centre for the Arts

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To Arrive Where You Are: Literary Journalism from The Banff Centre for the Arts

Manufacturer: Banff Centre Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0920159710

Book Description

The Creative Non-Fiction and Cultural Journalism program at The Banff Centre allows writers a freedom they don't have in their everyday lives. Freedom to choose their own destinations. Freedom to arrive at some surprising places. The results of these literary travels are sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always thought-provoking. This is the third installment in the Banff Centre Press's cultural journalism series.

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Dagmar's Daughter
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0670891029

Bibliography of Canadian Indian mythology (Abhandlungen der Volkerkundlichen Arbeitsgemeinschaft)

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Bibliography of Canadian Indian mythology (Abhandlungen der Volkerkundlichen Arbeitsgemeinschaft)
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Volkerkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Elephant Winter
Kim Echlin
Manufacturer: Penguin Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ12FY

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