Allen, Paula. "Symbols and Structure in Native            American Literature: Some Basic Considerations." College Composition and Communication 24 (1973): 267 (4).

Traditional Western--American-- beliefs about the cosmos are very different from that of American Indians. Americans divide the cosmos into the natural and the supernatural, but man belongs to neither. He is superior to nature, but inferior to God. Thus Americans are alienated from God and nature. Native Americans on the other hand believe in the All-Spirit. The All-Spirit, as the name implies, encompasses all things. Everything is part of the whole and there are no lines of demarcation to indicate a hierarchy. There is a sense of unity--this sense of unity is present in the literature of American Indians. American Indians believe that words contain a great deal of power and therefore treat them in a way that is foreign to Westerners. American Indians deal with things in terms of their spirit, and so when they speak about the sun or to the moon they are not literally addressing the sun or moon, but talking of its spirit. This concept of sprit is foreign to Americans. Differing fundamental beliefs about the cosmos leads to misinterpretations of American Indian by westerners.

  [The first part of this article is identical to  "The Sacred Hoop", but the second half goes into much more detail about American Indians believes about the cosmos, and how that relates to their literature. LS]

Allen, Paula Gunn. Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1983.

  Allen, Paula Allen. "The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective," Allen 1-22

Literature is part of a culture and best understood if one has an understanding of that culture. We relate best to literature that is reflective of our culture, and understand the importance and relevancy of literature that reflects our culture. Therefore Western readers have a difficult time reading American Indian literature because they attempt to analysis it based on their own culture--not American Indian culture. This can lead to assumptions that American Indian literature is primitive or savage, both of which are not true. Western and Native literatures are not similar because basic assumptions about the universe are not the same and the purposes of the literatures differ. American Indian literature is not individual or necessarily a form of self-expression. It does not seek to make others feel a certain way, but rather to bring the people together. While the specific creation beliefs differ from tribe to tribe for the most part American Indians do not feel separate and isolated form their God, but rather part of God. Their God does not have ultimate control, as does the traditional Christian God. The American Indian notion of God is one of togetherness everything one thing is related to the next. This basic assumption is effects the way in which an American Indian writer creates a story, and in turn Westerners have a difficult time interpreting the story. The same is true of

  [This is a good introduction for anyone who is going to be exposed to American Indian literature. It is easy to read and comprehend and provides the reader with a lot information and things to consider when reading American Indian, or any differing cultures, literature. LS]

  Allen, Paula Gunn. "Teaching American Oral Literatures." Allen 33-51

  At the root of all written literature is oral literature. The study of oral literature then is beneficial to the study of American Indian written literature--as it is very closely associated with oral literature. It is important to examine how oral and written literatures are similar and different. Oral literature is a live performance. There is no fixed or definite text that defines oral literature. For the purpose of the classroom however, oral literature is defined by three contexts--the generating context, performance context and the reception context. There are problems with examining the texts of oral literature because of mistranslation, and because the more a text is printed and reprinted the farther away it moves from the live performance.

[This article is geared towards those teaching American Indian literature to college students, but does offer some good advice for those interested in learning more about oral literature. The article is followed by course designs that could possibly be scaled down to work in a high school classroom. LS]

  Blumenthal, Susan. "Spotted Cattle and Deer: Spirit Guides and Healing in Ceremony." American Indian Quarterly 14.4  (Fall 1990): 367 (11).

  The spotted cattle and deer are important thematic elements in Ceremony. They are animal spirit guides and role models for Tayo. The spotted cattle are half-breeds like Tayo. They are both spiritual and physical hybrids. The cattle represent duality. Tayo has a special relationship with the deer--he is a deer child. The deer are respected by the Indians, but not by the whites. The cattle and the deer represent different things for whites and Indians. For whites they are a metaphor, but for Indians they are magical aspects of reality. Silko's use of the half-breed cattle also fits in thematically with the book because they represent change and cultural interaction. Just like Tayo they represent two cultures and are trying to get home, but they don't know where there home is so they wander--like Tayo they have lost their way.

[This article is very useful for anyone studying Ceremony, but also demonstrates how native symbols that come from Native oral tales is incorporated into modern fiction. LS]

  Brill de Ramirez, Susan Berry.  Contemporary American Indian Literatures and the Oral Tradition. Tucson, AR: The University of Arizona Press, 1999.

  Brill de Ramirez, Susan Berry. "Orality and Conversity in Relation to American Indian Literatures." Brill de Ramirez 1-20.

  Introduces conversive literary strategies--a means by which readers become listener-readers. Thus becoming more involved in reading stories and guiding others through stories. These strategies are very beneficial when analyzing American Indian written literature because it is rooted in oral tradition. Modern literary criticism has become very text orientated, and while this approach works fine for traditional Western literature it does not for oral rooted American Indian literature. Proper analysis of American Indian literature requires an approach that is based on the literature itself--oral centered. Scholars of this literature must posses not only an understanding, but also an acceptance of the oral stories and their meaning and significance as it relates to the culture. Acknowledging that this literature is rooted in oral tradition is not merely accepting that the oral is a starting point for the more sophisticated written literature. Oral literature is not a lesser form of the written. Oral literature is powerful; often writers draw strength and power from their oral stories. Listeners of American Indian stories are drawn into the stories and actually become part of the story--the listener becomes active.  There are devices used by American Indian writers that mimic this relationship between the storyteller and listener in written form. So the reader becomes a listener-reader and an active participant in the story.

[This introduction is very beneficial for anyone who teaches or reads American Indian literature. It introduces a new way to analysis American Indian literature--stressing the importance of oral tradition and how crucial our understanding of that oral tradition is to our interpretation of this literature. LS]

  Brill de Ramirez, Susan Berry. "Storytellers and their Listener-Readers in Silko's 'Storytelling' and 'Storyteller.'" Brill de Ramirez. 129-154.

  In Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko has several different characters telling and retelling stories. The old and the new are woven together so that the stories are reflective of the changing times. The relationship between these characters is similar to that of the writer-storyteller and the reader-listener of modern American Indian fiction. American Indian writers invite a more interactive role from their readers--the reader, or audience, is necessary to the completion of the story. The relationship between the American Indian author and their reader is reflective of the storyteller and the listener. This relationship led scholars to devise the reader-response method of analyzing Native American literature. However this approach still focuses largely on the text--thus some scholars have gone even farther in trying to understand the role of the reader-listener as an active participant in the story. Leslie Marmon Silko's Storyteller and Storytelling are used as examples of how to apply a conversive approach to American Indian literature and how the author creates a relationship with the reader that simulates the storyteller-listener role.

  [This essay provides a lot of specific information geared towards the scholar. It would be very useful for those who have read or teach either of the Silko text used as examples. It puts into practice the conversive approach to American Indian literature--this is probably most useful for the scholar rather than the student. LS]

  Coltelli, Laura. Winged Words. American Indian Writers Speak.  London: University of Nebraska Press 1990.

  Cotelli, Laura. Allen, Momaday, Scott N. Cotelli 89-118.

  A sense of place is very important in oral American Indian literature. The land is developed and understood through the stories. Naming things is also very important--to name something is to bring it to life. Thus creation began with naming. The same things that inform oral literature should inform written literature. The two are not as different as it seems. The boundaries of literature are being rethought and expanded to include oral literature--so American Indians are able to contribute a great deal more than in the past.

  [Like the Silko interview it is interesting to hear about writing from a writer. Helpful in understanding the writing process, as long as it is understood that it is only one persons point of view and not reflective of all writers. LS]

  Coltelli, Laura. Silko, Marmon Leslie. Coltelli 135-153.

  As a child she was told stories. The stories came from relatives, but were never concrete. They were never told as actual accounts, but rather how the teller knew it or felt it. She was not raised with the standard of linear time. Time is continual and things or people are always present, but just in a different time. So then everything is connected in some way or another. This sense of time effects how she writes. Linking things together, loosely, that don't seem to fit together, but do. This same process happens with the stories--they are linked together and one is part of another, while another finishes another and so on. She was exposed to stories her whole life--oral stories. When she started writing they naturally became a part of her writings. She was not conscience of the incorporation of the oral stories. Like any other author she was simply drawing form her personal experience.

  [Very interesting insights because they come directly from the author, rather than someone speculating about the author. It useful piece for anyone reading Silko's books. It is straightforward and easy to comprehend. LS]

  Evers, Lawrence J. "Words and Place: A reading of House Made of Dawn." Critical Essays on Native American Literature. Ed. Andrew Widget. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1985. 211-230.

  House Made of Dawn is reflective of oral tales. It has the same movement from discord to harmony that is found in many American Indian oral stories. Abel, the main character, is out of balance and is seeking stability. Throughout the novel there are many allusions to traditional American Indian tales and stories, but they become new stories. As with much modern American Indian fiction, Momaday infuses the past and the present--representing the changes that are taken place.

  [This article provides examples of how the old and the new are shaped into a new hybrid literature. Even if the reader has not read House Made of Dawn they can understand the examples because the author provides segments of the text. LS]

  Jahner, Elaine. "Intermediate Forms between Oral and Written Literature." Allen 66-74.

Literature, regardless of form, is someone's vision. The vision has to be translated into some type of linguistic form--mainly oral or written. In American Indian literature these forms seem to exist side by side. Scholars have been quick to note the relationship between oral and written literature in regard to "major" American Indian pieces of work. However examining the co-existence of oral and written literatures is applicable and necessary to all forms and types of American Indian literature. Many American Indian authors are creating an intermediate form of literature. The method is written literature, but the underlying force is oral literature. The Walking Bulls--a married couple who both publish work--are two examples of these intermediate authors. Gilbert Walking Bull retells stories from his childhood, but personalizes them by giving the details and circumstances under which he heard the stories. His wife Montana does not retell the oral stores, but captures the essence of the stories through poems and stories of her own childhood.

[The examples are clear and the reader gets a clear sense of what the author is trying to demonstrate. LS]

 

  
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