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Storyteller

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"A rich, many-faceted book." -- The New York Times

A classic work of Native American literature by the bestselling author of Ceremony

Leslie Marmon Silko's groundbreaking book Storyteller, first published in 1981, blends original short stories and poetry influenced by the traditional oral tales that she heard growing up on the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico with autobiographical passages, folktales, family memories, and photographs. As she mixes traditional and Western literary genres, Silko examines themes of memory, alienation, power, and identity; communicates Native American notions regarding time, nature, and spirituality; and explores how stories and storytelling shape people and communities. Storyteller illustrates how one can frame collective cultural identity in contemporary literary forms, as well as illuminates the importance of myth, oral tradition, and ritual in Silko's own work. This edition includes a new introduction by Silko and previously unpublished photographs.
Praise for Storyteller:

“A rich, many-faceted book . . . [Silko] has a sharp sense of the way in which the profound and the mundane often run together.” —N. Scott Momaday, The New York Times Book Review

“This multigeneric work lovingly maps the fertile storytelling ground from which [Silko’s] art evolves and to which it here returned—an offering to the oral tradition which nurtured it.” —Bernard A. Hirsch

“Takes us into old worlds of consciousness inside the present, and inside ourselves.” —Gloria Steinem
© Courtesy of Leslie Marmon Silko
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in New Mexico in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. She is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, including Ceremony, Storyteller, Almanac of the Dead, Gardens in the Dunes, and The Turquoise Ledge. Considered by many as one of the most important contemporary Native American writers, Silko's honors include a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" fellowship, the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for significant contribution to American literature, and the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime achievement by a writer whose work focuses on the American West. She has been named a Living Cultural Treasure by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities Council, and has also received the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award. View titles by Leslie Marmon Silko

About

"A rich, many-faceted book." -- The New York Times

A classic work of Native American literature by the bestselling author of Ceremony

Leslie Marmon Silko's groundbreaking book Storyteller, first published in 1981, blends original short stories and poetry influenced by the traditional oral tales that she heard growing up on the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico with autobiographical passages, folktales, family memories, and photographs. As she mixes traditional and Western literary genres, Silko examines themes of memory, alienation, power, and identity; communicates Native American notions regarding time, nature, and spirituality; and explores how stories and storytelling shape people and communities. Storyteller illustrates how one can frame collective cultural identity in contemporary literary forms, as well as illuminates the importance of myth, oral tradition, and ritual in Silko's own work. This edition includes a new introduction by Silko and previously unpublished photographs.

Praise

Praise for Storyteller:

“A rich, many-faceted book . . . [Silko] has a sharp sense of the way in which the profound and the mundane often run together.” —N. Scott Momaday, The New York Times Book Review

“This multigeneric work lovingly maps the fertile storytelling ground from which [Silko’s] art evolves and to which it here returned—an offering to the oral tradition which nurtured it.” —Bernard A. Hirsch

“Takes us into old worlds of consciousness inside the present, and inside ourselves.” —Gloria Steinem

Author

© Courtesy of Leslie Marmon Silko
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in New Mexico in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. She is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, including Ceremony, Storyteller, Almanac of the Dead, Gardens in the Dunes, and The Turquoise Ledge. Considered by many as one of the most important contemporary Native American writers, Silko's honors include a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" fellowship, the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for significant contribution to American literature, and the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime achievement by a writer whose work focuses on the American West. She has been named a Living Cultural Treasure by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities Council, and has also received the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award. View titles by Leslie Marmon Silko