The Dark Way - Softcover

Conley, Robert J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0806132736 ISBN 13: 9780806132730

Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr, 2000

Synopsis

"No one weaves a tribal story quite like Robert Conley. Conley's books are entertaining, colorful, and chock-full of tribal history and culture."--Wilma P. Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Few writers portray Native American life and history as richly, authentically, and insightfully as Robert J. Conley, an important voice of the Cherokee past. The novels in his Real People series combine powerful characters, gripping plots, and vivid descriptions of tradition and mythology to preserve Cherokee culture and history.

This, the second volume of the series, continues with the spellbinding account of a dramatic event in Cherokee lore--the overthrow of the priests. A terrible drought has plagued the land, and Standing-in-the-Doorway, most exalted of the Ani-Kutani--the highly privileged priesthood--knows he must produce rain or lose the confidence of his people. In desperation, the crafty priest decides to revive an ancient custom and designs a four-day ceremony intended to dazzle an increasingly disenchanted populace.

But Standing-in-the-Doorway is ruled by his passion for the arrogant young Two-Heads, who has a childhood score to settle and a long-suppressed fantasy to fulfill. Two Heads schemes to build the ceremony around his warped desires--a plan that endangers him and the entire priesthood. The priests may have gone too far: arousing the enmity of the Real People will seal their doom.

About this title

About the Author

Robert J. Conley, a three-time winner of the Spur award, is the author of The Witch of Goingsnake and Other Stories and Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears, both published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

From Publishers Weekly

Like The Way of the Priests , this taut second installment of the Real People series draws on Cherokee legend. Here Conley turns to the revolt against the Cherokee priests, one of the most famous episodes in the history of the tribe. A drought has gripped the land, and the priests, who intercede with the spirits to keep the Real People in balance in the middle world, are becoming desperate as the people have begun to question their authority, behavior and motives. In a final gamble to bring rain, the chief priest decides to revive the ancient practice of human sacrifice, and allows his homosexual lover, the priest Two Heads, to choose the victim. Two Heads selects Corn Flower, wife of his onetime friend Edohi. But the gruesome act has no effect--except to appall the people, who band behind Edohi in a bloody rebellion. Although Conley's decision to cast two gay man as arch-villains seems gratuituous, the novel is otherwise genuinely dramatic. Conley is meticulous in his depiction of Cherokee life before they encountered Europeans, and his use of material from Cherokee oral tradition, including tales of the rabbit-trickster Jidsu, reinforces the novel's authenticity.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0806132736
• ISBN 13: 9780806132730
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 179