Coming to Light

A definitive anthology of Native American literatures draws on the work of more than two hundred tribes across the United States and Canada and provides vivid, accurate translations of texts within their proper historical and cultural contexts.

Swann (Smoothing the Ground: Essays on Native American Oral Literature) provides a solid entree to American Indian mythology in this mammoth, sweeping volume. Focusing on the oral tradition, he has collected new translations of more than 50 ancient stories. Translators include both Indians (Calvin W. Fast Wolf, Larry Evers, Darryl Babe Wilson) and noted non-Indian experts in the field (William Shipley, William Bright, Dennis Tedlock). Divided into seven geographically oriented sections, the book presents tales from a wide variety of tribal traditions from the Arctic to the American Southwest. The familiar trickster Coyote is represented in stories from the Navajo of the Southwest and the Kalapuya of the North Pacific Coast. But less well-known trickster figures are also included?Raven and Wolverine of the far north; Nanabush of the Ojibwe of the Eastern Woodlands; Fox of the Atsugewi of California. There is celebration, as in a thanksgiving song from the Iroquois tradition; there is also an explanation of death, from the North Pacific Coast. The being usually known as "Monster Slayer," a principal figure in Navajo and Apache mythology, is given fresh life through translations that call him "Enemy Slayer" and "He Triumphs Over Evils." Swann's knowledgeable introduction sets the translations in historical context and discusses the oral tradition; individual translators provide introductions to their own work.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Swann (English, Cooper Union) continues his work of presenting Native American literatures. He has already edited several well-received collections (e.g., On the Translation of Native American Literatures, Smithsonian, 1992) of this still poorly known American art form. In a vast but geographically uneven collection (half the stories are from the Subarctic, Alaska, and the Southwest), he attempts to place these new translations in their respective cultures. Swann has gathered intact texts from storytellers, singers, and orators. Arranged by region and tribe, each set of translations is prefaced by a lengthy introduction by the translator that sets the stories in context. The focus varies, depending on whether the translator is a linguist, anthropologist, or educator and whether he or she is a Native speaker, of which a fair number are. This wide-ranging collection goes far toward achieving Swann's goal of presenting a collection of reliable translations placed in their cultural and historical environments. Recommended both for general readers and specialists.?Lisa A. Mitten, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Swann has put together a major, groundbreaking anthology of Native American literature. Organized by geographical region, the stories, songs, oratory, and prayers collected here have recently been translated, some for this volume, the fruits, Swann explains in his frequently impassioned introduction, of a renaissance in the study of Indian literature over the past three decades. There is a "hunger" for "things Native American," according to Swann, and these stories and other texts are essential to understanding Native American life and the multitude of diverse cultures this term encompasses. These vivid and clearly rendered works were selected from the literature of some 200 Native American languages, less than half the number extant when the first Europeans appeared, and reflect the richness and variety of the place-oriented cultural traditions native to North America. An invaluable volume. Donna Seaman