Dead Voices: Natural Agonies in the New World

Dead Voices: Natural Agonies in the New World
ISBN-10
0806125799
ISBN-13
9780806125794
Series
Dead Voices
Category
Fiction
Pages
156
Language
English
Published
1994
Publisher
University of Oklahoma Press
Author
Gerald Robert Vizenor

Description

Gerald Vizenor gives life to traditional tribal stories by presenting them in a new perspective: he challenges the idyllic perception of rural life, offering in its stead an unusual vision of survival in the cities-the sanctuaries for humans and animals. It is a tribal vision, a quest for liberation from forces that would deny the full realization of human possibilities. In this modern world his characters insist upon survival through an imaginative affirmation of the self. In Dead Voices Vizenor, using tales drawn from traditional tribal stories, illuminates the centuries of conflict between American Indians and Europeans, or "wordies." Bagese, a tribal woman transformed into a bear, has discovered a new urban world, and in a cycle of tales she describes this world from the perspective of animals-fleas, squirrels, mantis, crows, beavers, and finally Trickster, Vizenor’s central and unifying figure. The stories reveal unpleasant aspects of the dominate culture and American Indian culture such as the fur trade, the educational system, tribal gambling, reservation life, and in each the animals, who represent crossbloods, connect with their tribal traditions, often in comic fashion. As in his other fiction, Vizenor upsets our ideas of what fiction should be. His plot is fantastic; his story line is a roller-coaster ride requiring that we accept the idea of transformation, a key element in all his work. Unlike other Indian novelists, who use the novel as a means of cultural recovery, Vizenor finds the crossblood a cause for celebration.

Other editions

  • Dead Voices
    • 2020-06-30
    • 288 pages
    • Paperback
    • Puffin Books
  • Dead Voices
    • 2019-08-27
    • 256 pages
    • Ebook
    • Penguin
  • Dead Voices
    • 2019
    • 256 pages
    • Paperback
    • G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
  • Dead Voices
    • 2016-06-28
    • 60 pages
    • Paperback
    • Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

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