SANSKRIT AND ITS KINDRED LITERATURES.
STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
By LAURA ELIZABETH POOR.
16mo. Cloth. 400 pages Price, $2.00.
The book goes over ground which has been made new by the modern discoveries in philology and mythology. It describes and compares the literatures of the different Aryan families, and brings forward the comparative mythology, as it manifests itself in each different country, filling a place which is almost empty in that department, and giving in a brief space information which is scattered through hundreds of different volumes. In fact, there is no one book which contains just what this does,—a sketch of comparative mythology, with history enough to make it clear and connected. It creates and fills a place of its own.
Rev. Dr. F. H. Hedge, of Harvard University, Cambridge, says of it:—
“The unpretending volume with the above title is just what was needed to popularize the results of the researches of such scholars as Wilson, Spiegel, Grimm, Monier Williams, Müller, Whitney, and others, and to place them within easy reach of readers who may not have access to those writers. The author’s task seems to have been well executed; she has produced an entertaining and instructive work, full of interesting matter, illustrated by choice extracts, and written in an easy and animated style. Such books, of course, are not consulted as final authorities, but this is well worth reading by all who desire an initial acquaintance with the subjects discussed.”
“One of the chief merits of the volume is the clearness with which the author expresses her thoughts, and the skill with which she disentangles the subtleties of metaphysical and religious doctrines, making them plain to the most casual reader.”—Boston Courier.
“The book, of course, is an elementary one, but it must be valuable to the young student who desires to get a complete view of literature and of the reciprocal relations of its various divisions. It can hardly fail to interest the reader in the new science of which it gives results, and lead him to more exhaustive studies for himself. If such a work could be made a school text-book it would give pupils a long start in their pursuit of a correct and systematic knowledge of language and literature.”—Buffalo Courier.
“Let no intelligent reader be deterred from its diligent perusal by the learned name which introduces the interesting book now offered to the public to illustrate studies in comparative mythology. The word Sanskrit has an abstruse sound to unenlightened ears, but there is nothing abstruse in the subject as here presented, and nothing difficult to be understood by persons of ordinary culture.... The writer’s treatment of the subject is much to be commended. It is bright, fresh, earnest, and strong. She arouses the reader’s attention from the beginning, charms his imagination by choice extracts from the literary treasures of past ages, pleases his taste by drawing parallelisms between the myths of the past and the fables of the present, convinces him that one literature unites different nations and different centuries, and that each nation is a link in the great chain of development of the human mind. We earnestly commend this work to all who would understand the unity and continuity of literature. It is full of general information and instruction, the style is earnest and easy, the enthusiasm sympathetic, and the presentation specially thought-stirring and satisfactory.”—Providence Journal.