Earthmaker: Tribal Stories from Native North America"From Publishers Weekly : Although the subtitle of this volume from Miller (Shamanic Odyssey: The Lushootseed Journey to the Land of the Dead) promises tribal stories, in fact it contains very little of the kind. The problem derives from the author's peculiar choice to blend tribal traditions and tales. Thus the etiological story of clan origin about an Indian princess who marries a bear combines Tsimshian and Tlingit tales; Miller's version of the Windigo, the evil cannibalistic enemy of Native peoples, is an amalgam of Cree and Ojibway stories; and the story of the Sun's warlike twins and their life on earth with an elderly couple is a blend of Zuni and Acoma myths. This homogenizing of tradition renders the volume useless to the serious student and will confuse casual readers who will believe that they are getting legitimate tribal stories. Told here in a stilted style, intended by the author to approximate oral tradition, all of the tales represented are available in better versions in other collections. Miller's introduction is a good discussion of Natives of different regions and what their life was like before European contact. Once again, however, a broad-brush, generalizing approach undercuts his intentions. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc."--Via amazon.com. |
Common terms and phrases
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