Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony A Casebook

by Chavkin, Allan

• ISBN13: 9780195142839
• ISBN10: 0195142837
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-24
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony , the most important novel of the Native American Renaissance, is among the most most widely taught and studied novels in higher education today. In it, Silko recounts a young man's search for consolation in his tribe's history and traditions, and his resulting voyage of self-discovery and discovery of the world. The fourteen essays in this casebook include a variety of theoretical approaches and provide the reader with crucial information, especially on Native American beliefs, that will enhance their understanding and appreciation of this contemporary classic. The collection also includes two interviews with Silko in which she explains the importance of the oral tradition and storytelling, along with autobiographical basis of the novel.

Author Biography

Allan Chavkin is Professor of English at Southwest Texas State University. He has published four books and over thirty articles in varous books and magazines.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(14)
Allan Chavkin
Animals and Theme in Ceremony	17	(6)
Peter G. Beidler
Circular Design in Ceremony	23	(18)
Robert C. Bell
An Act of Attention: Event Structure in Ceremony	41	(10)
Elaine Jahner
Blue Medicine	51	(12)
Kenneth Lincoln
The Transformation: Tayo's Genealogy in Ceremony	63	(8)
John Purdy
Forms of Biculturalism in Southwestern Literature: The Work of Rudolfo Anaya and Leslie Marmon Silko	71	(12)
Reed Way Dasenbrock
Special Problems in Teaching Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony	83	(8)
Paula Gunn Allen
``The Very Essence of Our Lives'': Leslie Silko's Webs of Identity	91	(26)
Louis Owens
The Semiotics of Dwelling in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony	117	(22)
Catherine Rainwater
The Function of the Landscape of Ceremony	139	(36)
Robert M. Nelson
No Boundaries, Only Transitions: Ceremony	175	(18)
James Ruppert
Contested Ground: Nature, Narrative, and Native American Identity in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony	193	(20)
Rachel Stein
Leslie Marmon Silko	213	(10)
Jace Weaver
Silko's Arroyos as Mainstream: Processes and Implications of Canonical Identity	223	(18)
Kenneth M. Roemer
Leslie Marmon Silko	241	(16)
Laura Coltelli
Of Apricots, Orchids, and Wovoka: An Interview with Leslie Marmon Silko	257	(8)
Robin Cohen
Selected Bibliography	265