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 |
Some of the homes of humans and mythcreatures | 25 |
Hlghagilda 1881 | 26 |
Goose Food | 27 |
Spoken Music | 50 |
Diego Velázquez Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus | 64 |
The One They Hand Along | 65 |
Sleek Blue Beings | 236 |
The Iridescent Silence of the Trickster | 263 |
Ttanuu September 1897 | 273 |
The Last People in the World | 277 |
A Knife That Could Open Its Mouth | 295 |
The Historian of Ttanuu | 315 |
The TtanuuHlghagilda war zone | 322 |
Chase Whats Gone | 332 |
Hlghagilda Skidegate summer 1881 | 72 |
Wealth Has Big Eyes | 100 |
July 1878 104106 | 104 |
Daxhigang The Face of Tangghwan Llaana | 110 |
Oral Tradition and the Individual Talent | 111 |
The Anthropologist and the Dogfish | 135 |
Port Essington Spaksuut circa 1900 | 138 |
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 |
A Blue Hole in the Heart | 339 |
The Prosody of Meaning | 361 |
Shellheap of the Gods | 372 |
How the Town Mothers Wife Became the Widow | 393 |
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 | |
Common terms and phrases
ashore asked awhile birds Boas Boas's called canoe classical Haida literature culture Daxhiigang Dogfish Eagle Edward Sapir English European Eyak father flew Ghandl Ghandl's poem Ghaw Gitkuna glottal glottal stop glottalized consonants gyaan Gyaanhaw Haida Gwaii Haida language Haida mythology Haida poets Haida texts headman heard Heiltsuk Henry Moody Hlghagilda housepole human humpback whale Islands John Swanton killer whales Kilxhawgins Klemtu language Large Poem later linguist listening living Llaanas looked Masset mother myth mythteller Nang narrative Native American Newcombe Nishga North Northwest Coast oral literature oral poets painting poetry poles potlatch Qaysun Qinggi Qqaadasghu Qquuna Qiighawaay Raven Travelling salmon Sapir Sghaagya Sghiidagits shaman Skaay Skaay's Skidegate skin southern Haida speaking spoke story Swanton n.d.2 tell things Tlingit told took town transcribed translation Tsimshian Ttanuu uncle uncle's Velazquez's verb village vowels wansuuga wife woman women words Xhyuu
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 |