Living Stories of the Cherokee - by Barbara R Duncan (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This remarkable book, the first major new collection of Cherokee stories published in nearly a hundred years, presents seventy-two traditional and contemporary tales from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. It features stories told by Davey Arch, Robert Bushyhead, Edna Chekelelee, Marie Junaluska, Kathi Smith Littlejohn, and Freeman Owle -- six Cherokee storytellers who learned their art and their stories from family and community.
The tales gathered here include animal stories, creation myths, legends, and ghost stories as well as family tales and stories about such events in Cherokee history as the Trail of Tears. Taken together, they demonstrate that storytelling is a living, vital tradition. As new stories are added and old stories are changed or forgotten, Cherokee storytelling grows and evolves.
In an introductory essay, Barbara Duncan writes about the Cherokee storytelling tradition and explains the "oral poetics" style in which the stories are presented. This format effectively conveys the rhythmic, oral quality of the living storytelling tradition, allowing the reader to "hear" the voice of the storyteller.

Review Quotes

"These rich and deeply delightful stories--both ancient and recent--are a great gift from a group of masterful tellers."--Charles Frazier, author of Thirteen Moons and Cold Mountain

"This book is so needed in the storytelling world because it provides the 'real' stories from Cherokee culture and not just interpretations."--Connie Regan-Blake, storyteller

"Will have a profound influence on future publications of collections of oral history as well as those of contemporary storytellers."--Thomas Rain Crowe, Wild Mountain Times

About the Author

Barbara R. Duncan is Education Director at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, and coauthor of Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook.