>Yinweiaiqing: added Category:19th-century storytellers using HotCat

2021-04-19T03:17:29Z

added Category:19th-century storytellers using HotCat

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{{short description|19th c. storyteller and maid}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Liberata de Souza
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date =
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| nationality = [[India]]n
| other_names =
| occupation = Maid
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| known_for = Narrator of Indian Folktales
| notable_works = Narrator of ''Old Deccan Days''
}}
'''Anna Liberata de Souza''' (born c. 1819–1823<ref name="Prasad">{{cite journal |last1=Prasad |first1=Leela |title=The Authorial Other in Folktale Collections in Colonial India |journal=Cultural Dynamics |date=2003 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=33 |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/35923076/Authorial_Other.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_Authorial_Other_in_Folktale_Collect.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20190703%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190703T162425Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=55a07a9002b0559bd212338c2e7b7d697e4915a2b013a998ba3082f93c6cafbb |accessdate=3 July 2019}}</ref>) was the [[India]]n maid of the Anglo-Indian writer [[Mary Frere]]. The stories she told were the basis for Frere's book ''Old Deccan Days or Hindoo Fairy Legends, Current in Southern India, Collected From Oral Tradition''.<ref name='bf'>{{cite book |last1=Dorson |first1=Richard Mercer |title=History of British Folklore |date=1968 |publisher=Primera Publication |location=London |page=884}}</ref>

==Early life==
De Souza's grandfather's family belonged to the Lingaet [[Caste system in India|caste]]. They were originally from [[Kozhikode|Calicut]] (today also known as Kozhikode). They later moved near [[Goa]]. During this time her grandfather, along with his family, converted to Christianity and, as a result, his father broke all ties. Her grandfather was a ''[[havildar]]'' and her father a tent pitcher in the British army. Both won medals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naithani |first1=Sadhana |title=In Quest of Indian Folktales - andit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington}}</ref>

De Souza had seven brothers and one sister, none of whom attended school. Their mother often worked as a [[coolie]], and therefore their grandmother used to take care of them. She was a Christian but still respected Hindu temples. It is from her that de Souza and her siblings heard the stories and Hindu fairy legends that she later narrated to Mary Frere.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frere |first1=Mary |title=Old Deccan Days |date=1898 |publisher=John Murray |location=London}}</ref>

==Life with Mary Frere==
In 1865–66, Frere accompanied her father on a three-month tour through the [[Bombay Presidency]] of India, where he was the governor. Her mother was in England and not accompany them. Frere and de Souza were the only females in the group. De Souza narrated the stories to Frere in English, and Frere later wrote them down. Afterwards, she read them to de Souza to check for accuracy.<ref name="Brown">{{cite web|url=http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=frerma|title=Mary Frere (Overview)|others=Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy (editors)|year=2006|work=Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present.|publisher=Cambridge University Press Online|accessdate=31 July 2010|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

==''Old Deccan Days''==
''Old Deccan Days'' was published in London and was later translated into many languages. The book was illustrated by Mary Frere's sister, the artist [[Catherine Frances Frere]]. Orientalist [[Max Müller]] noted that one of the stories sounded like it had been translated directly from the original [[Sanskrit]].<ref name='bf'/>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:de Souza, Anna}}
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:1823 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian storytellers]]
[[Category:Maids]]
[[Category:19th-century storytellers]]

Anna Liberata de Souza - Revision history

>Yinweiaiqing: added Category:19th-century storytellers using HotCat