Join co-hosts Anne Moore and Chris Stacey for an innovative, exciting, and passionate approach to world literature. We select a country and pick three books over the course of three months: one contemporary, one non-fiction, and one classic. Our current country is India. In our third meeting we discuss the classic selection Valmiki's Ramayana translated by Arshia Sattar.

One of India’s greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country’s moral and cultural consciousness. For generations it has served as a bedtime story for Indian children, while at the same time engaging the interest of philosophers and theologians. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Visnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honor, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies, and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. With her magnificent translation and superb introduction, Arshia Sattar has successfully bridged both time and space to bring this ancient classic to modern English readers.

We hope to see you in April to help us create a community you’ll find inviting, fun, engaging and a place to sustain meaningful friendships.

Date: Thursday, April 3, 2025

Time: 6:00PM Central

Location: Fine Arts Building, 410 South Michigan Avenue, Salon Des Artistes, Room 535, Chicago, IL 60605

Cost: $10 suggested donation.

Reviews

Of all the many translations of the Ramayana into English, Arshia Sattar’s is the only one that is both accurate and a pleasure to read. - Wendy Doniger

There are many Ramayanas in English, and some of them follow Valmiki’s narrative faithfully, but their English is wooden, unreadable, and opaque. Arshia Sattar’s retelling is a lone exception. - Velcheru Narayana Rao

Photo Credit: Marketing material, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.