Native American Literature

[Patroclus]

Greetings, Do readers from different parts of the world know or read American Indians Novel?

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Patroclus

Greetings, Do readers from different parts of the world know or read American Indians Novel?

Do you have any names you can mention? Are they writing in their own language, or something more popular like English or Spanish?

The only author I can name, off the top of my head, is Leslie Marmon Silko. She's from around your way. Not that I have any experience of her work, but just that I saw her name mentioned once somewhere else on the internet.

[abecedarian]

Here's some places to start looking:
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...erican_writers

I did have at least one more site saved, but that link is on the hard drive in the box in the corner...for $1000, I might be able to easily locate it

Anyway, I can vouch for Jimmy Santiago Baca(read his autobiography), Thomas King(Medicine River), and Sherman Alexie(Ten Little Indians).

[Patroclus]

A few of Native American Writers: Leslie Marmon Silko, N. Scott Momaday, Joy Harjo, James Welch Linda Hogan, Joseph Bruchac, Geary Hobson, Luci Tapahonso, Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris, Maurice Kenny, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Simon J. Ortiz and Greg Saris these are only a few. There are many more out there. Most Native American Writers write in English.

[Patroclus]

Leslie Marmon Silko has written: "Ceremony," "Storyteller," "Almanac of the Dead," "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit" and "Gardens in the Dunes." It has been ten years since she has written "Gardens in the Dunes." I sure hope she is finishing a new novel.

[Patroclus]

In 1969 N. Scott Momaday was awarded The Pulitzer Prize for "House Made of Dawn." By getting the Pulitzer Prize allowed the door to be opened for Native American writers and the rest of (white) American readers were exposed to a different world within America. Momaday went on to write:"The Ancient Child," "The Way to Rainy Mountain," "In the Bear's House," "The Names: A Memoir" and a few others. It has been a few years since he has come out with a novel. I don't know if he will.

[ions]

In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier is a fantastic book about a Métis girl. Tremendously sad though.

Amazon.com

[Patroclus]

Before House Made of Dawn; won the The Pulitzer Prize or brought the voices of Native American writers to the Anglo-American readers Mourning Dove and D'Arcy McNickle had written several novels and short stories. Cogewa, The Half Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range (1927) and Coyote Stories were written by Mourning Dove. On the other hand, D'Arcy McNickle wrote: The Surrounded, Wind from an Enemy Sky, The Hawk is Hungry and other Stories and Runner in the Sun. Most of these books are still in print. Last year Birgit Hans (a German woman teaching in University of North Dakota) published The Hungry Generations: The Evolution of a Novel. This novel is an earlier, handwritten manuscript version of The Surrounded; And if you do get a hold of this book you will see the early version of the novel. John Joseph Matthews has written only one novel...Sundown (1934) and there's John Milton Oskison who has written several books: Black Jack Davy (1926), Brothers Three (1935), Lone Ride&amp (?), Tecumseh and his Times (1938), A Texas Titan (1929), Vision Victorious (1931), and Wild Harvest (1925).

[Patroclus]

Paula Gunn Allen (October 24, 1939-May 29, 2008) was a poet, literary critic, activist and novelist. She is going to be dearly missed from this day onward. She was of mix race: Laguna, Sioux, Scottish and Lebanese-American and she earned her Ph. D. from University of New Mexico. She has written: "Life Is A Fatal Disease: Collected Poems, 1962-1995"; "The Woman Who Owned the Shadows" (1983); "Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women" (1989); "Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1900-1970" (1995); "Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1974-1994" (1996); "Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-busting Border-crossing Loose" (1998); "Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat" (2003) and there are many more. Most of her books are still in print. May the rest of the world get to know her writing and learn more about Native Americans through her writings...

[Stewart]

There's a Guardian blog article on Native American history. It doesn't touch on literature too much, but the article writer does say:

The best book I've read thus far is James Mooney's The Ghost Dance Religion and Wounded Knee, an account of his investigation into the causes of the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29 1890. The book, written not long after the events described, describes how the federal government sent in 3,000 troops and half its cavalry forces to quell an outbreak of dancing among the Sioux, killing 300 unarmed men, women and children while they were at it.

[Eric]

Have we established yet whether there are many books of what I now want to term "belles lettres" written by Indian people in North America?

Because people may get accused of being political when bringing up the literature of Georgia, China, Iran, etc., but I also see here a willingness to highlight massacres when perpetrated by the American authorities or, in the case of the British Empire, the Brits.

Are there any more novels, books of poetry, essays and so on, written by American Indians, or their descendents, that are not in effect merely political tales? I mean books such as "Spider Woman's Granddaughters" as described here.

I don't mean non-Indians writing about Indians, but what the indigenous American Indians have written themselves.

The same goes, mutatis mutandis for the Roma. Nor is the section here for African literature thriving. It appears to be one of the least visited sections on the World Literature Forum.

[abecedarian]

A few years ago I read Tale from the Great Turtle edited by Piers Anthony. While some stories are from non-Native Americans, many are NA penned.
During the same time period, I also read Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native American Women's Writings of North America edited by Joy Harjo. All contributions in this collection are Native American women.

[ions]

Thomas King is a Native writer worth looking into. Green Grass, Running Water is his latest I think.

Oh, although not written by a Native Black Robe by Brian Moore is a great book partially about Natives.

[abecedarian]

Originally Posted by ions

Thomas King is a Native writer worth looking into. Green Grass, Running Water is his latest I think.

I love the movie made from his Medicine River...just thinking of South Wing makes me laugh..and the character of Harlan Bigbear is such a hoot...a walking talking coyote with a heart of gold.

[DreamQueen]

My favourites include:

- One Good Story, That One and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
- The Toughest Indian in the World by Sherman Alexie
- The Names by N. Scott Momaday