Daniel Prior, Lecture "How a Horse Theft Becomes a Praise Poem"
Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 4:30pm to 6:30pm
Location: Keeneland Library, Keeneland, 4201 Versailles Rd.
Equestrian art takes many forms, even poetic. In 1864 a band of Kirghiz nomads in Central Asia crossed into China and stole a herd of several hundred horses from their long-time Mongol enemies at the cost of many lives. This unprovoked act of violence, which was an episode in a major outbreak of unrest, soon became the subject of a Kirghiz epic-like narrative poem celebrating the heroism of the raiders. Literature traditions show us that stealing herds of horses and protecting them from theft has held worldwide fascination for millennia. Daniel Prior, in studying