Debiutancka powieść Alexiego Zentnera, Dotyk, jest historią wyimaginowanej osady Sawgamet, ukrytej głęboko w leśnych ostępach na północnym zachodzie Kanady oraz jej założycieli, rodziny Boucherów.
Początek powieści jest swoistym zakończeniem, zamknięciem pewnego cyklu. Narrator, Stephen Boucher powraca do swojej rodzinnej miejscowości aby doglądać konającą matkę. Stephen, anglikański pastor, który wychował się w Sawgamet, w atmosferze tradycyjnych wierzeń i ludowych obrzędów. W przeddzień śmierci matki, Stephen, pracując na mową pogrzebową, przypomina sobie historię życia i śmierci swojego dziadka i ojca. Wspomnienia te sprawiają, iż czytelnik staje się uczestnikiem swoistej historii tragedii rodzinnej.
Zentner przedstawia przeszłość poprzez kluczowe postacie z dzieciństwa Stephena - jego dziadka Jeannota, jego ojca Pierre'a, oraz jego ojczyma Earla. Wszystko wydaje się być istotne i częścią większego planu, nawet przejście na emeryturę Earla, anglikańskiego pastor, jest ważnym elementem całej historii. Zentner pokazuje w jaki sposób rzeka i las, które stanowią podstawowe źródła utrzymania, kształtują mieszkańców i określa ich tożsamość. Mieszkańcy Sawgamet zaczynali jako poszukiwacze złota, a wraz z wyczerpaniem się zasobów złota, stali się drwalami lub właścicielami sklepików. Warto pamiętać, iż tożsamość to bardzo złożona kwestia, nie jest stała i dana na zawsze, gdyż nawet śmierć nie jest w stanie zatrzymać dalszych możliwych zmian. Ale ten temat będzie poruszony w moim bardziej akademickim projekcie. ;-)
W pierwszy rozdział powieści wplecione zostało opowiadanie, o tym samym tytule - "Dotyk," za które Zentner otrzymał nagrodę O'Henry'ego. Rozdział opowiada historię śmierci ojca i siostry Stephena, jednocześnie wprowadzając dwa motywy przewodnie - zimno i śmierć. Zmieniają się bohaterowie i okoliczności, jednak koniec jest zawsze taki sam - ktoś umiera podczas zimy. Żal i strata bliskiej osoby, w pewnym sensie dodają kolorytu powieść, jednak autor, zachowuje właściwe proporcje między żyjącymi i tymi którzy zginęli, tym samym zapewniając czytelnika, iż gdzieś pośród tej tragedii tli sie jeszcze iskierka nadziei. Pomimo rodzinnych nieszczęść, powrót Stephena do Sawgamet daje nadzieję, iż może wszystko nie jest stracone.
Ale czym właściwie jest Dotyk?
Jest w pewnym sensie historią osadnictwa. Nastoletni Jeannot rozkręca interes w puszczy tylko dlatego, ze jego pies nie chce dalej iść. Okazuje sie, że w miejscu w którym zatrzymał sie pies, Jeannot znajduje duży kawałek złota, który nie tylko zapewnia mu ekonomiczne bezpieczeństwo ale również rozpoczyna gorączke złota.
Jest też swoistym studium duchowości. Duchowość w powieści reprezentuje nie tylko anglikański pastor, który jest narratorem, ale również duchy z indiańskich legend. Otaczający Sawgamet las zamieszkany jest przez wektiko i qallupiluit - mityczne stworzenia, które polują na ludzi i dzieci. Poza zimnem i śmiercią, wiara jest jakby kolejnym motywem w powieści. Można się zastanawiać czym jest wiara i w co wierzyć. W powieści ta wiara chrześcijańska przplata się z wierzeniami Indian. Mieszkańcy Sawgamet wierzą, iż las, który jest źródłem utrzymania i stabilizacji ekonomicznej, jest również niezbadaną siłą, która potrafi wymierzyć ludziom sprawiedliwość.
wtorek, 31 grudnia 2013
The Two Wolves - A Cherokee Story
A young boy came to his Grandfather, filled with anger at another boy who had done him an injustice.
The old Grandfather said to his grandson, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and hate does not hurt your enemy. Hate is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feeling many times."
"It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one wolf is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper."
"He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, because his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, because both of the wolves try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which wolf will win, Grandfather?"
The Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I feed."
czwartek, 12 grudnia 2013
Absolutely Fabulous Queen - the Fur Queen
Tomson Highway, a Cree/Canadian pianist and one of Canada's best known playwrights, published his debut novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen, in 1998. It is a story of a champion dog-sled racer, Abraham Okimasis and his sons Jeremiah, a pianist, and Gabriel, a dancer. As the brothers journey from northern Manitoba to residential school and then to Winnipeg, a mysterious trickster figure - the Fur Queen - plays witness to their lives. The resulting story is about sibling rivalry, sibling love, how Natives were treated in Catholic residential schools, sexuality, art, and family.
What is this mysterious trickster figure? Why is it mysterious? One cannot understand Native American Literatures or First Nations Literatures, for that matter, without a clear understanding of mythology. Mythographer John Bierhorst claims that "mythology does not have the antiquity of geologic ages, but it is nevertheless a very old pattern, woven into the terrain over the course of thousands of years. Each continent - except Antarctica - has its own mythological imprint and will probably never receive another, at least not in the foreseeable future. Viewed at a distance, myths create a luxuriant configuration that gradually changes from region to region. At close range, these same myths reflect the desires and fears of distinct peoples, granting them trusteeship of the land with the consent of unseen powers." (2) What Bierhorst is suggesting here is that there are distinct mythological maps that have guided cultures from ancient times to the present.
Myths are called âtayôhkêwin in Plains Cree, and occupy a very important place in the culture. The Cree creation narrative is considered to be the archetype of its spiritual foundation. The events and sequence of the unfolding universe are the basis of the Cree belief system. Other sacred narratives of Cree mythology speak of the emergence of a culture hero, the trickster, who named and organized everything that existed in the Cree lifescape, and made the flora and fauna, earth and heavens harmonious and safe in preparation for the arrival of the Cree people. The collection of tribal narratives represents the archives of centuries of learning and the synthesis of human, ecological, and spiritual knowledge. "In many cases, Cree knowledge is only accessible through the understanding of a complex nexus of sacred oral narratives and communal spiritual practices that are reenactments of the creation time. The whole scheme of creation and mythological beginnings, along with a complex array of peoples' experiences since ancient times, contributes to what traditional Cree people consider the truth of existence."
Many of the most important figures in Cree mythology are human in shape. Here are some central ones just to name a few:
But what about this mysterious Fur Queen?
In Tomson Highway's novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, the figure of the Fur Queen is described with both Weesageechak and Weetigo imagery. Cynthia Sugars asserts that Highway's use of the Weetigo "represents a critical after effect of colonialism for it [the Weetigo] embodies the ways members of a culture can be induced to turn on their own people."(74) Jenifer S.H. Brown and Robert Brightman in their study The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth claim that there is a "socially shared belief in the reality of windigo transformation."(163) Highway employs Weetigo imagery to describe the residential school's abusive priest which places sexual abuse parallel to the Weetigo's cannibalism. Such a construction of a Weetigo sexuality within the Christian context puts Jeremiah and Gabriel in danger of a sexualized and religious form of Weetigo transformation as Mitchell Leslie Spray tells us. To demonstrate the complex issues that the Aboriginal culture and its members must encounter within the modern colonial framework, Highway uses mythological figures specific to his characters' culture. Tomson Highway does not praise Aboriginal culture or condemn Western culture; in the Okimasis brothers he exaggerates the interaction and confrontation between the two cultures.
In Comparing Mythologies Tomson Highway states that mythology "maps out the collective subconscious, the collective dream world of races of people, the collective spiritual nervous system."(26) Therefore, he, using the mythology of the Rock Cree, comes up with a Trickster who has an unclear influence on the main characters' lives and whose symbolic presence permeates both cultures in which the brothers travel. For, as Elvira Pulitano writes, "Trickster stories have always aimed at liberating people's minds, forcing them into self-recognition and knowledge, and keeping them alert to their own power to heal."(147) It is easy to identify the Fur Queen as Trickster; however, the complications of Weesageechak and Weetigo merged in this one figure make the liberation of minds and forced self-recognition clearly painful and potentially dangerous.
more to follow ...
Works cited and consulted:
John Bierhorst, The Mythology of North America
Jenifer S.H. Brown and Robert Brightman, The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth
Tomson Highway, Comparing Mythologies
Elvira Pulitano, Toward a Native American Critical Theory
Cynthia Sugars, "Weetigos and Weasels: Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and Canadian Post-Colonialism"
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
What is this mysterious trickster figure? Why is it mysterious? One cannot understand Native American Literatures or First Nations Literatures, for that matter, without a clear understanding of mythology. Mythographer John Bierhorst claims that "mythology does not have the antiquity of geologic ages, but it is nevertheless a very old pattern, woven into the terrain over the course of thousands of years. Each continent - except Antarctica - has its own mythological imprint and will probably never receive another, at least not in the foreseeable future. Viewed at a distance, myths create a luxuriant configuration that gradually changes from region to region. At close range, these same myths reflect the desires and fears of distinct peoples, granting them trusteeship of the land with the consent of unseen powers." (2) What Bierhorst is suggesting here is that there are distinct mythological maps that have guided cultures from ancient times to the present.
Myths are called âtayôhkêwin in Plains Cree, and occupy a very important place in the culture. The Cree creation narrative is considered to be the archetype of its spiritual foundation. The events and sequence of the unfolding universe are the basis of the Cree belief system. Other sacred narratives of Cree mythology speak of the emergence of a culture hero, the trickster, who named and organized everything that existed in the Cree lifescape, and made the flora and fauna, earth and heavens harmonious and safe in preparation for the arrival of the Cree people. The collection of tribal narratives represents the archives of centuries of learning and the synthesis of human, ecological, and spiritual knowledge. "In many cases, Cree knowledge is only accessible through the understanding of a complex nexus of sacred oral narratives and communal spiritual practices that are reenactments of the creation time. The whole scheme of creation and mythological beginnings, along with a complex array of peoples' experiences since ancient times, contributes to what traditional Cree people consider the truth of existence."
Many of the most important figures in Cree mythology are human in shape. Here are some central ones just to name a few:
- The 'Older Brother' of all Cree people. He is clever, plays tricks on other creatures and is often treated as The First Cree person.
- 'Little People' can help humans by giving them powers if they pass a test or challenge.
- 'Windigo' is a human that has been infected with wicked powers after consuming human flesh. They have great powers and are much feared.
- 'Thunderer/Thunderbird' are beings that come from the sky, usually associated with strong and powerful thunderstorms. They are considered good, and protect humans from evil things.
- 'Sun-Child' is born when the Sun takes a mortal wife. He becomes the Morning Star.
- 'One with a beaded head/Wampum-head' is a man with beads in his hair. He is associated with prosperity and physical beauty.
But what about this mysterious Fur Queen?
In Tomson Highway's novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, the figure of the Fur Queen is described with both Weesageechak and Weetigo imagery. Cynthia Sugars asserts that Highway's use of the Weetigo "represents a critical after effect of colonialism for it [the Weetigo] embodies the ways members of a culture can be induced to turn on their own people."(74) Jenifer S.H. Brown and Robert Brightman in their study The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth claim that there is a "socially shared belief in the reality of windigo transformation."(163) Highway employs Weetigo imagery to describe the residential school's abusive priest which places sexual abuse parallel to the Weetigo's cannibalism. Such a construction of a Weetigo sexuality within the Christian context puts Jeremiah and Gabriel in danger of a sexualized and religious form of Weetigo transformation as Mitchell Leslie Spray tells us. To demonstrate the complex issues that the Aboriginal culture and its members must encounter within the modern colonial framework, Highway uses mythological figures specific to his characters' culture. Tomson Highway does not praise Aboriginal culture or condemn Western culture; in the Okimasis brothers he exaggerates the interaction and confrontation between the two cultures.
In Comparing Mythologies Tomson Highway states that mythology "maps out the collective subconscious, the collective dream world of races of people, the collective spiritual nervous system."(26) Therefore, he, using the mythology of the Rock Cree, comes up with a Trickster who has an unclear influence on the main characters' lives and whose symbolic presence permeates both cultures in which the brothers travel. For, as Elvira Pulitano writes, "Trickster stories have always aimed at liberating people's minds, forcing them into self-recognition and knowledge, and keeping them alert to their own power to heal."(147) It is easy to identify the Fur Queen as Trickster; however, the complications of Weesageechak and Weetigo merged in this one figure make the liberation of minds and forced self-recognition clearly painful and potentially dangerous.
more to follow ...
Works cited and consulted:
John Bierhorst, The Mythology of North America
Jenifer S.H. Brown and Robert Brightman, The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth
Tomson Highway, Comparing Mythologies
Elvira Pulitano, Toward a Native American Critical Theory
Cynthia Sugars, "Weetigos and Weasels: Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and Canadian Post-Colonialism"
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
Subskrybuj:
Komentarze (Atom)