Nothing But the Truth An Anthology of Native American Literature

by Purdy, John L.; Ruppert, James

• ISBN13: 9780130116420
• ISBN10: 0130116424
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-16
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This anthology includes some of the best works of Native American Literature with a good representation of major authors, geographic dispersion, gender balance, and a variety of genres. Its illustrative and popular material promote a deeper appreciation of different themes and approaches. Complete works that have become classics in the field, combined with ones from the modern era, make this collection rich in historical and theoretical context.Selections of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama, include works by Paula Gunn Allen, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Carter Revard, Leslie Marmon Silko, Sherman Alexie, Kimberly Blaeser, Peter Blue Cloud, Louise Erdrich, Scott N. Momaday, Simon Ortiz, and many more.An effective introduction to Native American Literature for readers interested in this area of writing.

Table of Contents

Selections by Author	x
Preface	xiv
Nonfiction	5	(185)
Introduction	1	(14)
Postmodernism, Native American Literature and the Real: The Silko-Erdrich Controversy	15	(8)
Susan Perez Castillo
The American Indian Fiction Writers: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, the Third World, and First Nation Sovereignty	23	(16)
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Indian Humor	39	(15)
Vine Deloria
The Ghost Dance War	54	(8)
Charles Eastman Ohiyesa
The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective	62	(20)
Paula Gunn Allen
The Man Made of Words	82	(12)
N. Scott Momaday
Decolonializing Criticism: Reading Dialectics and Dialogics in Native American Literatures	94	(26)
David L. Moore
Towards a National Indian Literature: Cultural Authenticity in Nationalism	120	(6)
Simon J. Ortiz
History, Myth, and Identity Among Osages and Other Peoples	126	(15)
Carter Revard
The Woman Who Loved a Snake: Orality in Mabel McKay's Stories	141	(18)
Greg Sarris
Language and Literature from a Pueblo Perspective	159	(13)
Leslie Marmon Silko
An Old-Time Indian Attack Conducted in Two Parts: Part One---Imitation ``Indian'' Poems/Part Two---Gary Snyder's Turtle Island	166	(6)
Introduction: Only the Beginning	172	(18)
Brian Swann
Fiction	190	(222)
The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor	194	(18)
Sherman Alexie
This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona	203	(9)
Swimming Upstream	212	(6)
Beth Brant
A Good Chance	218	(14)
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
The Power of Horses	226	(6)
The Red Convertible	232	(8)
Louise Erdrich
Unfinished Business	240	(10)
Eric Gansworth
Aunt Parnetta's Electric Blisters	250	(5)
Diane Glancy
Deer Woman	255	(8)
Paula Gunn Allen
Sleeping in Rain	263	(3)
Gordon Henry
Aunt Moon's Young Man	266	(16)
Linda Hogan
As It Was in the Beginning	282	(7)
Pauline E. Johnson
Borders	289	(16)
Thomas King
A Seat in the Garden	298	(7)
The Hawk Is Hungry	305	(8)
D'Arcy McNickle
Veterans' Dance	313	(8)
Jim Northrup
The Killing of a State Cop	321	(5)
Simon J. Ortiz
Blessed Sunshine	326	(7)
Louis Owens
Report to the Nation: Repossessing Europe	333	(12)
Carter Revard
How I Got to Be Queen	345	(13)
Greg Sarris
The Man to Send Rain Clouds	358	(17)
Leslie Marmon Silko
Tony's Story	362	(5)
Yellow Woman	367	(8)
The Disposal of Mary Joe's Children	375	(16)
Mary TallMountain
All the Colors of Sunset	391	(5)
Luci Tapahonso
The Warriors	396	(10)
Anna Lee Walters
The Soft-Hearted Sioux	406	(6)
Zitkala-Sa
Poetry	412	(179)
13/16	416	(14)
Sherman Alexie
The Business of Fancydancing	417	(1)
Capital Punishment	418	(4)
Defending Walt Whitman	422	(2)
The Exaggeration of Despair	424	(1)
How to Write the Great American Indian Novel	425	(2)
Crazy Horse Speaks	427	(3)
Dear World	430	(5)
Paula Gunn Allen
Kopis'taya, A Gathering of Spirits	431	(2)
Soundings	433	(2)
Living History	435	(7)
Kimberly Blaeser
Rewriting Your Life	436	(2)
Rituals, Yours---and Mine	438	(1)
Where I was That Day	439	(3)
Bear: A Totem Dance as Seen by Raven	442	(15)
Peter Blue Cloud
The Old Man's Lazy	444	(2)
Rattle	446	(3)
To-ta Ti-om	449	(2)
Turtle	451	(2)
Yellowjacket	453	(1)
Drum	454	(2)
Reflections on Milkweed	456	(1)
Above the Line	457	(5)
Joseph Bruchac
Blessing the Waters	459	(1)
Copal, Red Blood: Chiapas, 1998	460	(2)
Today Was a Bad Day like TB	462	(1)
Chrystos
Salmon Egg Puller---$2.15 an Hour	463	(1)
Nora Dauenhaur
Captivity	464	(10)
Louise Erdrich
Indian Boarding School: The Runaways	465	(1)
Jacklight	466	(1)
Old Man Potchikoo	467	(4)
Dear John Wayne	471	(1)
Turtle Mountain Reservation	472	(2)
She Had Some Horses	474	(13)
Joy Harjo
Transformations	476	(1)
I Give You Back	477	(1)
Call It Fear	478	(1)
Eagle Poem	479	(1)
The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window	480	(1)
Grace	481	(1)
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky	482	(5)
Blessing	487	(13)
Linda Hogan
Song for My Name	488	(1)
Bamboo	489	(1)
Celebration: Birth of a Colt	490	(1)
Drought	490	(1)
The New Apartment, Minneapolis	491	(1)
The Truth Is	492	(1)
Elk Song	493	(2)
Geraniums	495	(1)
Heritage	495	(2)
It Must Be	497	(1)
Map	498	(1)
Morning: The World in the Lake	499	(1)
Akwesasne	500	(10)
Maurice Kenny
Legacy	502	(1)
Sweetgrass	503	(1)
They Tell Me I Am Lost	504	(2)
Wild Strawberry	506	(2)
Wolf ``Aunt''	508	(2)
Who Am I	510	(1)
Joyce carlEtta Mandrake
Angle of Geese	510	(5)
N. Scott Momaday
The Bear	511	(1)
At Risk	511	(1)
December 29, 1980: Wounded Knee Creek	512	(1)
The Colors of Night	513	(2)
The Eagle-Feather Fan	515	(1)
Bend in the River	515	(5)
Simon J. Ortiz
The Creation, According to Coyote	516	(1)
Dry Root in a Wash	517	(1)
My Father's Song	518	(1)
A Story of How a Wall Stands	518	(1)
The Boy and Coyote	519	(1)
And Don't Be Deaf to the Singing Beyond	520	(11)
Carter Revard
Driving in Oklahoma	521	(1)
In Kansas	522	(1)
An Eagle Nation	523	(4)
What the Eagle Fan Says	527	(1)
Wazhazhe Grandmother	528	(3)
I Expected My Skin and My Blood to Ripen	531	(4)
Wendy Rose
If I Am Too Brown or Too White for You	532	(1)
Three Thousand Dollar Death Song	533	(2)
Indian Song: Survival	535	(18)
Leslie Marmon Silko
Untitled	536	(3)
Untitled, From Ceremony	539	(5)
Storytelling	544	(2)
Story from Bear County	546	(2)
Toe'osh: A Laguna Coyote Story	548	(3)
When Sun Came to Riverwoman	551	(2)
Good Grease	553	(3)
Mary TallMountain
The Last Wolf	554	(1)
There Is No Word for Goodbye	554	(1)
Matmiya	555	(1)
Blue Horses Rush In	556	(4)
Luci Tapahonso
In Praise of Texas	557	(1)
Light a Candle	558	(1)
Raisin Eyes	559	(1)
Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat	560	(3)
James Welch
Surviving	561	(1)
Thanksgiving at Snake Butte	562	(1)
Snow Country Weavers	562	(1)
Riding the Earthboy 40	563	(1)
Dream of Rebirth	563	(15)
Roberta Hill Whiteman
For Heather, Entering Kindergarten	564	(1)
In the Longhouse, Oneida Museum	565	(1)
Black Eagle Child Quarterly	566	(12)
The First Dimension of Skunk	578	(13)
Ray Young Bear
Winter of the Salamander	581	(1)
The Language of Weather	582	(2)
Morning Talking Mother	584	(1)
The Significance of a Water Animal	585	(1)
Nothing Could Take Away the Bear-King's Image	586	(5)
Drama	591	(29)
Harold of Orange: A Screenplay	591	(29)
Gerald Vizenor
Timeline	620	(13)
Credits	633	(4)
Index	637

Excerpts

PREFACE As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and necessity certainly drove the creation of this anthology. As any educator will tell you, one of the difficult duties we face year after year, semester after semester, is the selection of texts for classes. Even in the case of literature courses that cover the writings of "dead white guys" who no longer produce literary works, there is still a continuous stream of secondary books about them and myriad analyses of their writings. In the area of writings by American Indians, this task is even more difficult because of the growing body of secondary sources, of course, but also because of the tremendous increase in the numbers of pieces of literature produced by writers of Native American descent. It is a perplexing quandary when one tries to choose from such a wonderfully rich selection. Such difficulties also arise when one tries to compile an anthology, and there are some very good examples in print today. Some try to provide the widest coverage: an expansive array of writings from as many nations and tribal groups as possible. Some try to provide an all-inclusive sense of history: coverage from the late eighteenth century to the present. Others center on specific thematic concerns--identity issues, political policies--and thus narrow their scope. Some simply opt for the editors'' favorites. This present endeavor, however, cuts across the various attempts of the past, and it has one simple, perhaps obvious, guiding principle. It was our intention to compile the pieces of literature that our colleagues who teach Native American literature use time and time again. To accomplish this task, we surveyed our colleagues around the globe and asked them to give us a list of their "core" texts. The questionnaires--sent by post and also posted on the Internet--covered all genres and eras. Our only stipulation was that we were looking for complete works of literary art and not "excerpts," that is, sections of longer works, like novels, which rarely stand as discrete units of art. (There are short stories included here that became novel chapters later.) The response was wonderful, and although there were some obviously central authors listed on significant numbers of questionnaires, there was also a great diversity in the recommendations they made. This may seem to be a very self-serving effort: to create the anthology we always wanted to have. To a degree, this is true, but primarily this book is an attempt to construct an effective introductory collection to written Native literature. In our questionnaire, we asked for lists of pieces used most often because "they work." We did not get into a lengthy attempt to define this vague qualifier, believing that every educator knows when something has a profound, productive effect on a class, an audience. We simply wanted to bring together literary pieces that have this effect, because we also realize that the students who read these pieces of literature in the myriad courses our colleagues teach at a wide array of public and private institutions around the globe constitute the reading public itself; they come from every element of society, cutting across every group distinction employed in the world today: class, gender, race, and political ideology, to name just a few. Nonetheless, the literature speaks personally and compellingly to them, and that is a remarkable achievement. We truly hope it speaks to you, the current reader, as well. Acknowledgments We want to thank all the people who have made this anthology possible, including all our colleagues around the world who took the time to answer our survey and thus provided the list of works they find most useful in their courses. We would also like to thank Steven Beech, who tracked these works down, and our editor, Carrie Brandon, for helping us realize our goal. Finally, however, our greatest appreciation goes to the Native American writers and storytellers who have made such remarkable contributions to the literary arts and enriched our society with their myriad voices and their illuminating insights. We would also like to thank the reviewers of our manuscript for their input on this anthology: Jacquelyn Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Governors State University; Gloria Lynn Larrieu, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute; Louis Roma-Deeley, Paradise Valley Community College; Patrick Clark Smith, University of New Mexico; and Norma Clark Wilson, University of South Dakota. -- John Purdy, James Ruppert