"That the people might live" : loss and renewal in Native American elegy / Arnold Krupat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krupat, Arnold.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indian literature--United States--History and criticism.

Indian literature.

Folk literature, Indian--History and criticism.

Folk literature, Indian.

American literature--Indian authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

Elegiac poetry, American--Indian authors--History and criticism.

Elegiac poetry, American.

Indians of North America--Funeral customs and rites.

Indians of North America.

Loss (Psychology) in literature.

Death in literature.

Grief in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Surveys the traditions of Native American elegiac expression over several centuries. Krupat covers a variety of oral performances of loss and renewal, including the Condolence Rites of the Iroquois and the memorial ceremony of the Tlingit people known as koo'eex, examining as well a number of Ghost Dance songs, which have been reinterpreted in culturally specific ways by many different tribal nations. Krupat treats elegiac "farewell" speeches of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in considerable detail, and comments on retrospective autobiographies by Black Hawk and Black Elk. Among contemporary Native writers, he looks at elegiac work by Linda Hogan, N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, Maurice Kenny, and Ralph Salisbury, among others. Despite differences of language and culture, he finds that death and loss are consistently felt by Native peoples both personally and socially: someone who had contributed to the People's well-being was now gone. Native American elegiac expression offered mourners consolation so that they might overcome their grief and renew their will to sustain communal life"-- Publisher's Web site.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Oral Performances (i)

2. Oral Performances (ii)

3. Authors and Writers

4. Elegy in the "Native American Renaissance" and After

Appendix: Best Texts of the Speeches Considered in Chapter 2

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801465413

0801465419

9780801465857

0801465850

OCLC:

922998308