Reading Leslie Marmon Silko: Critical Perspectives Through Gardens in the Dunes

by Coltelli, Laura

• ISBN13: 9788884924322
• ISBN10: 8884924324
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna, b. 1949) has long been a significant contributor to modern American Indian literature. In this landmark volume, leading scholars from Europe and North America assess her career and growing legacy, focusing especially on her visionary novel,Gardens in the Dunes. Topics include the power of modern resistance, indigenous feminism, the role of history, the effects of European culture and history on her work, and the force of storytelling and nonlinear narration. These essays variously and insightfully illuminate the work and life of a remarkable Native writer in the twenty-first century.

Author Biography

Laura Coltelli is a professor of American literature at the University of Pisa. She is the editor of The Spiral of Memory: Interviews and the author of Winged Words: American Indian Writers Speak, available in a Bison Books edition.

Contributors: James Barilla, Laura Coltelli, Rachel Barritt Costa, Mary Magoulick, Deborah A. Miranda, David L. Moore, David Murray, Joy Porter, John Purdy, Barbara K. Robins, Kimberly Roppolo, A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff, and Annette Van Dyke.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 5
Leslie Marmon Silko's Gardens in the Dunes: Contact Zones and Cross Currents	p. 7
Landscapes of Miracles and Matriarchy in Silko's Gardens in the Dunes	p. 21
Tips for Nurturing the Home Garden	p. 37
History in Gardens in the Dunes	p. 57
"We've Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Garden:" Indigenous Views of the Life-Death Cycle As Resistance in Leslie Silko's Gardens in the Dunes	p. 73
Ghost Dancing Through History in Silko's Gardens in the Dunes and Almanac of the Dead	p. 91
Old Comparisons, New Syncretisms and Gardens in the Dunes	p. 119
A Gynostemic Revolution: Some Thoughts About Orchids, Gardens in the Dunes, and Indigenous Feminism at Work	p. 133
Water as Leitmotif in Silko's Gardens in the Dunes	p. 149
Biological Invasion Discourse and Leslie Marmon Silko's Gardens in the Dunes	p. 165
Walking in Balance: The European-Based Spiritual Journey in Leslie Marmon Silko's Gardens in the Dunes	p. 177
The Gardens of Memory Between the Old and the New World: "All Who are Lost Will Be Found"	p. 185
Flashbacks and Free Indirect Discourse in Gardens in the Dunes: A Linguistic Analysis of Non-Chronological Narration	p. 207
Contributors	p. 235
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.