NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

The traditional literature of the Native Americans relates to their tribal knowledge, customs, and rituals. The literature consists of myths, songs, and chants in the oral tradition. Oral traditions is the process of passing down sayings, songs, tales and myths from one generation to the next by word of mouth. While these traditions preserve the historical continuity, they are also tenacious, dynamic, and responsive to change. Their world view is not that of a progressive straight line, but of an endless circle. This cyclical nature of existence is reflected both in the natural world itself-- with it’s changing seasons and the cycles of birth, death and rebirth.

The vast body of American oral literature - encompassing dozens of epic narratives and countless of stories, poems, songs, oratory, and chants - was not even recognized by western scholars until the late 1800s. Until then, it was assumed that the Native Americans had no literature. The different Native American culture use stories to teach moral lessons and convey practical information about the natural world. American Indian literatures also reflect a view of the natural world that is more inclusive than the one typically seen in western literature. The Native American universe is not dominated by human beings. Animals and humans are often interchangeable in myths and folk tales.

All American Indian cultures also show a keen awareness of the power of the metaphor. Songs and chants can make things happen - call game animals, bring rain, cure the sick, destroy an enemy. For the tribes, speech, or oratory - often relying on striking similes drawn from nature - is a highly developed and respected literary form. Poetry began as songs chanted to a regular beat. To help the singer remember the poem of song, lines were often repeated and certain images and comparisons were also used so often that the listeners expected to hear them in tribal songs.

The prose and poetry of Native Americans differ in purpose, form, and content. Prose stories, rhythmically intoned, tell the adventures of humans, animals, or spiritual beings. Poetry attempts to use the power of language to connect with the magical world. Myths are traditional stories passed down from generation to generation, characteristically involving immortal beings. Myths attempt to explain natural phenomena, the origins of humans, religious rites, or events beyond peoples control. Indirectly, myths teach the values and ideals of a culture.

Although they had not developed any sophisticated writing systems, Native Americans recorded pictographs and symbols and used art as a means to communicate their ideas and beliefs. Long series of pictographs or symbols were often interpreted by one member of the tribe to the others during traditional ceremonies. Because they did not have a written language, they occasionally engraved or painted symbols on wooden beads or animal-hide to preserve history.

Today, Native Americans are still trying to voice their ideas, keep their heritage alive and fight for their rights. Among those who are fighting the hardest are contemporary authors as they tread the delicate line between the past as it has been preserved for them and the path they continually create merging worlds, traditions, and an ever growing audience.