Overview

A new, haunting rendering of the ancient Indian stories ""Tales of the Vetala."" One of the oldest books in the world, The Oceans of Cruelty is 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. Douglas 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.

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9781681377667

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Reviews

"""The Oceans of Cruelty is a recursive spiral weaving tales from tales, combining ancient strands of horror and beauty, brutality and mercy, duty and desire. Penick's fleet and lyrical retelling draws us back irresistibly into the shimmering abyss of our collective pre-history."" —Daniil Leiderman “Penick offers an elegant retelling of the Vetala Panchavimshati, or 25 tales of betrayal, an eerie 11th-century Sanskrit collection … The highlight is the memorable corpse-spirit, which materializes at will like a nightmare to bedevil the king. This is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly ""In these twenty-five magnificent tales from an almost unremembered time, our normal human passions appear magnified before us in splendid horror. Each is a tangly vine ensnaring and twisting the lives of ordinary people, warriors, yogis, princesses, and kings into shapes appalling and unforeseen. You might love it!"" —Kidder Smith   ""With his mesmerizing recreation of these stories of the Vetāla, Douglas Penick takes part in one of South Asian literature’s most enduring practices: to tell stories again and again, in different languages, from differing cultural and religious perspectives. With its lyrical prose, his  haunting rendition of the stories offers contemporary readers a version both personal and universal in its appeal."" —Phyllis Granoff ""Douglas Penick's retelling of this ancient story cycle is brilliant, and irresistible.  We are given the mythic backstory of the whole, and it breathes new depth into the tale of King and Corpse.  The book's end provides fresh insight into the meaning of the whole.  The writing is breathtaking. Words leap off the page rendering the written world as alive as a story told.  Profound meanings surface with wild humor and emotion. Beware!  You will find yourself in direct confrontation with your own mind as your heart breaks open."" —Laura Simms, author of Our Secret Territory: The Essence of Storytelling"

"""The Oceans of Cruelty is a recursive spiral weaving tales from tales, combining ancient strands of horror and beauty, brutality and mercy, duty and desire. Penick's fleet and lyrical retelling draws us back irresistibly into the shimmering abyss of our collective pre-history."" —Daniil Leiderman “Penick offers an elegant retelling of the Vetala Panchavimshati, or 25 tales of betrayal, an eerie 11th-century Sanskrit collection … The highlight is the memorable corpse-spirit, which materializes at will like a nightmare to bedevil the king. This is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly ""In these twenty-five magnificent tales from an almost unremembered time, our normal human passions appear magnified before us in splendid horror. Each is a tangly vine ensnaring and twisting the lives of ordinary people, warriors, yogis, princesses, and kings into shapes appalling and unforeseen. You might love it!"" —Kidder Smith   ""With his mesmerizing recreation of these stories of the Vetāla, Douglas Penick takes part in one of South Asian literature’s most enduring practices: to tell stories again and again, in different languages, from differing cultural and religious perspectives. With its lyrical prose, his  haunting rendition of the stories offers contemporary readers a version both personal and universal in its appeal."" —Phyllis Granoff"

"""The Oceans of Cruelty is a recursive spiral weaving tales from tales, combining ancient strands of horror and beauty, brutality and mercy, duty and desire. Penick's fleet and lyrical retelling draws us back irresistibly into the shimmering abyss of our collective pre-history."" —Daniil Leiderman, Faculty of Game Design and Art History, Texas A&M “Penick offers an elegant retelling of the Vetala Panchavimshati, or 25 tales of betrayal, an eerie 11th-century Sanskrit collection … The highlight is the memorable corpse-spirit, which materializes at will like a nightmare to bedevil the king. This is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly ""In these twenty-five magnificent tales from an almost unremembered time, our normal human passions appear magnified before us in splendid horror. Each is a tangly vine ensnaring and twisting the lives of ordinary people, warriors, yogis, princesses, and kings into shapes appalling and unforeseen. You might love it!"" —Kidder Smith, Director Asian Studies, Bowdoin College   ""With his mesmerizing recreation of these stories of the Vetāla, Douglas Penick takes part in one of South Asian literature’s most enduring practices: to tell stories again and again, in different languages, from differing cultural and religious perspectives. With its lyrical prose, his  haunting rendition of the stories offers contemporary readers a version both personal and universal in its appeal."" —Phyllis Granoff, Professor Emerita, Indian Studies, Yale University ""Douglas Penick's retelling of this ancient story cycle is brilliant, and irresistible.  We are given the mythic backstory of the whole, and it breathes new depth into the tale of King and Corpse.  The book's end provides fresh insight into the meaning of the whole.  The writing is breathtaking. Words leap off the page rendering the written world as alive as a story told.  Profound meanings surface with wild humor and emotion. Beware!  You will find yourself in direct confrontation with your own mind as your heart breaks open."" —Laura Simms, author of Our Secret Territory: The Essence of Storytelling"

Author Information

Douglas J. Penick is the author of a wide range of verse and prose- libretti for opera (performed at the Munich and Santa Fe operas), text for documentaries (including The Tibetan Book of the Dead- A Way of Life, narrated by Leonard Cohen), renditions of three episodes from the Gesar of Ling epic, and short pieces that have appeared in Tricycle, Berfrois, Parabola, Chicago Quarterly Review, Agni Review, Kyoto Journal, Cahiers de l'Herne, and other outlets. Among his books are the novel Journey of the North Star, about the Yongle emperor; a translation (with Charles Ré) of Pascal Quignard's A Terrace in Rome; and The Age of Waiting, an exploration of aging amid ecological collapse. In the spring of 2025 he will publish Winter Light, essays on old age, loss, and discovery.

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