Sunjata

David Conrad's new prose translation of the Sunjata epic highlights the narrative aspect of the epic while conveying the essential performative quality of his 2004 verse translation. A revised Introduction, a glossary of Maninka terms, a guide to major characters, and maps provide further assistance to first-time readers of the epic. "After existing orally for hundreds of years, Sunjata was written down in the 20th century. David Conrad, who recorded a new version of the epic, has now crafted a prose translation that preserves the oral flavor of live performance. The result is a captivating work of literature that will finally give the story of Sunjata its well-deserved place among the great epics of world literature." —Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature, Harvard University