Mayan literature is among the oldest in the world, spanning an astonishing two millennia from deep pre-Columbian antiquity to the present day. Here, for the first time, is a fully illustrated survey, from the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions to the works of later writers using the Roman alphabet. Dennis Tedlock—ethnographer, linguist, poet, and award-winning author—draws on decades of living and working among the Maya to assemble this groundbreaking book, which is the first to treat ancient Mayan texts as literature. Tedlock considers the texts chronologically. He establishes that women were among the ancient writers and challenges the idea that Mayan rulers claimed the status of gods. 2000 Years of Mayan Literature expands our understanding and appreciation not only of Mayan literature but of indigenous American literature in its entirety.

Dennis Tedlock is Distinguished Professor and Endowed McNulty Chair of English and Research Professor of Anthropology at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York. He won the PEN Translation Prize for Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. For his other books he has received awards from the American Folklore Society, the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, the Society for Humanistic Anthropology, and the Association of American Publishers.

“2000 Years of Mayan Literature is a first of its kind . . . imaginatively written, superbly illustrated, beautifully produced and, above all, highly authoritative. . . . For those seriously interested in Mayan writing, the book is a must-buy.”—Current World Archaeology

“A hefty scholarly work that reads like serialized magazine articles. To my great amazement, Tedlock writes, and deconstructs, lucidly and penetratingly about a complex and long-running subject—two millennia of Mayan literature. . . . Tedlock’s book is quite accessible to the general reader.”—Albuquerque Journal

“It isn't often that we're introduced not just to a new work but a new literature—yet that's what we're offered in this revelatory book. . . . This compilation really can be seen as a work of discovery, setting out Mayan literature in a single sweep, in transliteration and in Tedlock's own acclaimed translations. These are framed by fascinating background and interpretative discussion and, just as you'd hope in so important a work, it's all beautifully illustrated and handsomely presented.”—Scotsman

“If you're drawn to global cultures, languages and mythology, this is a cool book to explore.”—Read the Spirit

"Never before has anyone focused so successfully on the literary genius of these ancient authors. Tedlock is so much more than a translator, placing selected Mayan works in a continuous narrative that skillfully links authors from the third century to the sixteenth century with writers of today. An extremely important, original, and innovative work."—Martha J. Macri, coauthor of The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs, Volumes 1 and 2, and Director of the Maya Hieroglyphic Database Project, University of California, Davis

"A stunning recreation of the intellectual world of the ancient Maya, the only fully literate people of pre-Columbian America. Informed by the latest research on Maya hieroglyphic writing, art, and mythology, this beautifully illustrated and wonderfully readable work by an outstanding scholar should be on the bookshelf of all those interested in this fascinating civilization."—Michael Coe, author of Breaking the Maya Code

"This book is, like the ancient Maya texts and images it explores, a work of art."—David Freidel, co-author (with Linda Schele and Joy Parker) of Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path

"Literally breathtaking. A truly unprecedented gathering and translation of written Mayan texts. Tedlock is making visible, for the first time, a Mayan literature in comprehensible, meaningful form.”"—Jerome Rothenberg, poet, author/editor of Technicians of the Sacred and Poems for the Millennium