Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1986
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
6
Issue
ess/vol6/iss1
First Page
45
Last Page
46
Abstract
This is the second monograph on Native American autobiography, and together with Bataille and Sands' American Indian Women Telling Their Lives will be the necessary starting point for future studies in this neglected area of American literature. An introduction and four chapters on individual works, with index and selected bibliography, comprise the text; the introduction and first chapter are most valuable. In the introduction Krupat articulates two requisites for critical reading of American Indian texts: consideration of means of production (focus on the intercultural relationship between author and transcriber-mediators), and critical theory to define artistic values (here, Northrop Frye's categories of comedy, tragedy, romance and irony). The remaining chapters apply the methods to five works.
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1986