A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their WorldThe Haida world is a misty archipelago a hundred stormy miles off the coasts of British Columbia and Alaska. For more than a thousand years before the Europeans came, a great culture flourished on these islands. In 1900 and 1901 the linguist and ethnographer John Swanton took dictation from the last traditional Haida-speaking storytellers,øpoets, and historians. Robert Bringhurst worked for many years with these manuscripts, and here he brings them to life in the English language. A Story as Sharp as a Knife brings a lifetime of passion and a broad array of skills?humanistic, scientific, and poetic?to focus on a rich and powerful tradition that the world has long ignored. |
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A story as sharp as a knife: the classical Haida mythtellers and their world
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictA distinguished Canadian poet and critic, Bringhurst here unveils a literary portrait of the keenly artistic culture native to the islands of Haida Gwaii. Located off the west coast of British ... Read full review
A story as sharp as a knife: the classical Haida mythtellers and their world
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictA distinguished Canadian poet and critic, Bringhurst here unveils a literary portrait of the keenly artistic culture native to the islands of Haida Gwaii. Located off the west coast of British ... Read full review
Contents
Acknowledgements | 10 |
Reading What Cannot Be Written | 13 |
Goose Food | 27 |
Spoken Music | 50 |
The One They Hand Along | 65 |
Wealth Has Big Eyes | 100 |
Oral Tradition and the Individual Talent | 111 |
The Anthropologist and the Dogfish | 135 |
The Last People in the World | 277 |
A Knife That Could Open Its Mouth | 295 |
The Historian of Ttanuu | 315 |
Chase Whats Gone | 332 |
A Blue Hole in the Heart A | 339 |
The Prosody of Meaning | 361 |
Shellheap of the Gods | 372 |
How the Town Mothers Wife Became the Widow | 393 |
Whos Related to Whom? | 155 |
The Epic Dream | 173 |
The Shaping of the Canon | 201 |
The Flyting of Skaay and Xhyuu | 213 |
You Are That Too | 221 |
Sleek Blue Beings | 236 |
The Iridescent Silence of the Trickster | 263 |
Haida Spelling and Pronunciation | 415 |
Spelling of Other Native American | 423 |
The Structure of Skaays Raven Travelling | 430 |
A Short Pronouncing Glossary | 436 |
| 493 | |
| 517 | |
Other editions - View all
A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World Robert Bringhurst No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
American appears asked beginning birds Boas brought called canoe century classical Haida close comes culture Eagle early English example father fire front gave Ghandl give Haida Gwaii half hand head headman hear heard Hlghagilda human Islands John kind known language later lines linguist listening literature living looked means Moody mother movement myth mythteller narrative Native North northern Northwest Coast notes once oral oral literature painting poem poetry poets poles published Qquuna Raven recorded remains seems side Skaay Skaay's skin speaking spoken started story structure Swanton tell texts things Tlingit told took town tradition transcribed translation Travelling Tsimshian Ttanuu turned uncle verb village voice whale wife woman women writing written
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World Volume 1 of Masterworks of the classical Haida mythtellers |
| Author | Robert Bringhurst |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | U of Nebraska Press, 1999 |
| ISBN | 0803261799, 9780803261792 |
| Length | 527 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Native American Studies Social Science / Folklore & Mythology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |