Handbook of Native American Literature - Paperback

by Andrew Wiget (Editor)

The Handbook of Native American Literature is a unique, comprehensive, and authoritative guide to the oral and written literatures of Native Americans. It lays the perfect foundation for understanding the works of Native American writers.
Divided into three major sections, Native American Oral Literatures, The Historical Emergence of Native American Writing, and A Native American Renaissance: 1967 to the Present, it includes 22 lengthy essays, written by scholars of the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures. The book features reports on the oral traditions of various tribes and topics such as the relation of the Bible, dreams, oratory, humor, autobiography, and federal land policies to Native American literature. Eight additional essays cover teaching Native American literature, new fiction, new theater, and other important topics, and there are bio-critical essays on more than 40 writers ranging from William Apes (who in the early 19th century denounced white society's treatment of his people) to contemporary poet Ray Young Bear.
Packed with information that was once scattered and scarce, the Handbook of NativeAmerican Literature -a valuable one-volume resource-is sure to appeal to everyone interested in Native American history, culture, and literature.
Previously published in cloth as The Dictionary of Native American Literature

Back Jacket

While the ethnographic and ethnohistorical literature of Native Americans is voluminous and there are several useful collection of critical essays on the subject of oral literature, there are few volumes of extended critical discourse on oral literature as literature. Critical discussion of Native American oral literature evolves along two lines, evaluative and descriptive.

Author Biography

Andrew Wiget Associate Professor of English at New Mexico University, resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico.