Wednesday, July 12, 2006
A World Apart
Leslie Marmon Silko and Ray A. Young Bear, both of whom pleasantly informed my appreciation of storytelling, seem almost like a different world from the dark, poetic weavings of Louise Erdrich. But all three authors impart a distinct, enriching view of American reality created out of the conflicting mixture of blood and origin stories that inhabit it. Ceremony, Black Eagle Child, and Love Medicine should all be required reading for students of American literature--even if they are in reality Laguna, Iowa, and Ojibwe.
