"I Am Not a Fairy Tale": Contextualizing Sioux Spirituality and Story Traditions in Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer"

Autor/in	Diana, Vanessa Holford
Titel	"I Am Not a Fairy Tale": Contextualizing Sioux Spirituality and Story Traditions in Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer"
Quelle	In: Studies in American Indian Literatures, 21 (2009) 2, S.1-24 (24 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0730-3238
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Dance; Ceremonies; American Indians; Literary Criticism; Cultural Background; Novels; American Indian Culture; Cultural Differences; World Views; Religion; Religious Factors + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Tanz; Zeremoniell; American Indian; Indianer; Literaturkritik; Novel; Roman; Kultureller Unterschied; World view; Weltanschauung
Abstract	Standing Rock Sioux writer Susan Power's best-selling novel "The Grass Dancer" (1994) includes depictions of the supernatural and spiritual that do not conform to the Judeo-Christian or, in some cases, the atheist or rationalist worldviews of many readers. Power writes of ghost characters and haunted places, communication between the living and the dead and between humans and animals, vision quests, Yuwipi ceremonies, purifying sweats, and an afterlife that is specifically Dakota. What does "epistemological competence" mean for readers of Power's novel? The author argues that such competence requires a familiarity with Dakota spiritual and story traditions, yet critics disagree over whether readers of contemporary Native American fiction should need such contextual grounding or whether "narrative competence" is sufficient for readers' understanding of a text. In this essay, the author provides a critical analysis of Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer." (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	University of Nebraska Press. 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0630. Tel: 800-755-1105; Fax: 800-526-2617; e-mail: presswebmail@unl.edu; Web site: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/catalog/categoryinfo.aspx?cid=163
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10