• Complain

Bill Vaudrin - Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)

Here you can read online Bill Vaudrin - Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series) full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 1981, publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, genre: Home and family. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover
  • Book:
    Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    University of Oklahoma Press
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    1981
  • Rating:
    4 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 80
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series): summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

A young Chippewa Indian from Minnesota collected these legends and stories told by the Tanaina Indians of southwestern Alaska. Called suk-tus (legend-stories) and stemming from the seventeenth century, they are anecdotal narratives centered on a particular animal or animals common to the Tanaina country. Thus the tales are peopled with foxes, beavers, wolverines, porcupines, and other animals, some of which disguise themselves in human form for sinister purposes and all of which have human desires and weaknesses.According to the author, some embellishments in the stories certainly resulted from contact with Western civilization, particularly during the Russian and early fur-trading periods, but basically they are aboriginal Tanaina and are told as they have been handed down through oral tradition.Originally, suk-tus were related to entertain and instruct, and they are as apt to do so for todays audiences as for yesterdays, reflecting both the outlook of their originators and the nature of the environment in which they lived.

Bill Vaudrin: author's other books


Who wrote Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series) — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make
title Tanaina Tales From Alaska Civilization of the American Indian Series - photo 1

title:Tanaina Tales From Alaska Civilization of the American Indian Series ; V. 96
author:Vaudrin, Bill.
publisher:University of Oklahoma Press
isbn10 | asin:0806114142
print isbn13:9780806114149
ebook isbn13:9780585194004
language:English
subjectDena'ina Indians--Folklore.
publication date:1981
lcc:E99.T185V3 1981eb
ddc:398.2/09174/972
subject:Dena'ina Indians--Folklore.
Page iii
Tanaina Tales from Alaska
by Bill Vaudrin
Introduction by Joan B. Townsend
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
NORMAN AND LONDON
Page iv
to
Walter and Annie Johnson
the very best people in the world
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 69-16717
ISBN: 0-8061-1414-2
Tanaina Tales from Alaska is Volume 96 in The Civilization of the American Indian Series.
For that copyrighted material that appeared in article form in Viltis: A Folklore Magazine (see pages viiiix) and used here in essentially original form, copyright assigned 1969 to University of Oklahoma Press, courtesy V. F. Beliagus, Editor of Viltis. New edition copyright 1969 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Page v
Preface
The pre-Russian culture of the Lake Iliamna-Cook Inlet Tanaina is dead. A few songs and dances survive, a handful of legitimate artifacts, and a dissipating language, as tangible evidences of its once-glory and pathos. And we have the Russian records. But most of what is known today about the early Tanaina has been perpetuated in the villages through the oral tradition, itself fading.
Three kinds of stories are told by the old-timers: (1) true historical accountsusually epic narratives of wars with the Aleuts or Russians, and sometimes of individual heroes who distinguished themselves in those wars; (2) cultural mythstales involving spirits or beings, other than men and animals, which inhabit the earth;* (3) "legend-stories"anecdotal narratives centered on a particular animal, or animals, common to the Tanaina country. This volume is a collection of the third type of storythe suk-tu.
In the days before the Russian encounter, suk-tus were told primarily to entertain and instruct (dulce et utile), and they are as apt to do so for today's audience as yesterday's. But their central value for the twentieth century may well consist in what was peripheral to the seventeenththe incidental picture of life in the Tanaina world out of which the legends grew. The stories reflect both the thinking of their originators and the nature of the physical community and environment in which they lived.
Anachronisms such as "chair," "window," ''ax," and "cabin'' appear in some of the stories, and serve as an index to either their later genesis or their susceptibility to foreign influence. At any rate, these references are a part of the legends as they are told today, and I have denied myself the liberty of weeding them out.
Picture 2Picture 3
* See my "The Amigook, the Eiukna, and the Joncha," The Alaska Review, Vol. I, No. 1 (Winter, 1963), 2035.
Page vi
I have attempted at all times to impart the original sense of the stories, both in choice of language and dramatic or moral intention, as it has been communicated to me by the old-timers. That is, I have tried to say what I think they were trying to sayabout life and how life was. The great difficulty, challenge, and responsibility of a re-creator in my position involves, of course, being remedially aware of the cultural difference that exists between the world for which these stories were intended and that to which I now present them.
One device I have employed is use of vernacular and idiomatic expressions common among the old-timers in their daily speech patterns, particularly expressions which reappear consistently in the recounting of the legend-stories: "September-month," "forth and back," "cache house,'' "picking wood," ''married up with," inviting someone to "sit up and eat," etc. My rationalization is that these are intercultural expressions of Russian or Indian idioms that are on their way to becoming anglicized, which have not yet passed the stage of transition where they are valuable as reflections of the culture from which they spring.
The stories appearing here come almost exclusively from Pedro Bay and Nondalton villages, two Tanaina communities in the Lake Iliamna region of southwestern Alaska (see map following). The people originally migrated into this area from the Kenai Peninsula, and still refer to themselves as "Kenai" Indians. They belong to the Athapascan language group, along with such other North American tribes as the Apaches and Navahos.
No words on a printed page could hope to recapture the spirit and immediacy of a firsthand telling of these stories by the people themselves. Steambaths and fish boats have played their parts for meand gas lamps and Swede stoves, log houses and long winter nights. Many of my favorite hours were spent in the preparation of this collection of stories.
Page vii
Page viii Deepest thanks to Michael A and Jean Ricteroff who have spent - photo 4
Page viii
Deepest thanks to Michael A. and Jean Ricteroff, who have spent so many hours re-creating for me the days of the old time, and who are responsible for the plots of most of the stories as they appear here.
Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)»

Look at similar books to Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series). We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series)»

Discussion, reviews of the book Tanaina Tales from Alaska (Civilization of the American Indian Series) and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.