Blue Dawn, Red Earth - by Clifford E Trafzer (Paperback)

About the Book

Incorporating traditional oral tales into modern narratives, the writers featured in this collection represent a wide range of tribes and cultural backgrounds, and demonstrate the vibrancy and diversity of Native American writing. The characters in these stories are as enduring as those that have been passed down in legend, as they capture the spirit of Native America, past and present.

Book Synopsis

In recent decades, Native American literature has experienced a resurgence in prominence and popularity. Beginning with the 1969 publication of N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn, and continuing with the work of Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, and Craig Lesley, American Indian writers have become an increasingly visible part of the literary landscape. In this collection of thirty varied and powerful short stories, almost all being published here for the first time, emerging talents carry on the tradition of their storytelling ancestors.

From the Back Cover

In recent decades, Native American literature has experienced a resurgence in prominence and popularity. Beginning with the 1969 publication of N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn, and continuing with the work of Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, and Craig Lesley, American Indian writers have become an increasingly visible part of the literary landscape. In this collection of thirty varied and powerful short stories, almost all being published here for the first time, emerging talents carry on the tradition of their storytelling ancestors. Incorporating traditional oral tales into modern narratives, these writers represent a wide range of tribes and cultural backgrounds, and demonstrate the vibrancy and diversity of Native American writing today. From Craig Womack's tale of witches to the spirits swirling through Lorne Simon's "Names" to Gerald Vizenor's tribal trickster - the characters in these stories are as enduring as those that have been passed down in legend.

Review Quotes

"Cliff Trafzer has put together a stunning collection of Native American voices in a works that shimmer with wit and erupt with rage while, most crucially, demonstrating the astonishing complexity and richness of Native American storytelling past and present. In these thitry stories, the contemporary Native Amerian world of the magical and mundane, outraged and outrageous, timeless and timely is shown to be very much alive and very much essential to what American and world literature are about. These are stories of survival for five hundred years against enormous odds through humor and grace, through courage and luck, and, most of all, through language-the power of story." -Louis Owens, author of Other Destinies and Wolfsong

"Enchanting, moving, colorful! Through fiction characters, the authors offer a slice of contemporary Native American life. Blue Dawn, Red Earth is skillfully edited and magnificently written by some fo the best Indian storytellers of our time." -Larry Myers, Executive Secretary, Native American Heritage Commission

"Featuring the work of new young talents and established masters, the stories in Blue Dawn, Red Earth celebrate the lives of contemporary Native Americans. While never denying the often harsh realities faced by native peoples, the stories express a confidence that native peoples, their spirituality and their sense of humor very much intact, will survive." -Rebecca Kugel, Professor of History, American Indian Studies, University of California, Riverside

About the Author

Clifford E. Trafzer is director of Native American Studies and the Costo Native American Research Center at the University of California, Riverside, where he is also professor of history and ethnic studies. He is the author and editor of nineteen books on the history, lives and experiences of Native American peoples, including Earth Song, Sky Spirit. Trafzer is vice-chair of the California Native American Heritage Commission, an agency that protects sacred sites and American Indian burial grounds. He live in Yucaipa, California.