Poetry

On Momaday resources, I found one of his interviews and here is what he says about poetry:

I am so delighted to read the words below, as it sums up what I think too about the art of poetry and writing. I always have had the easiest time to write poems, haikus are some of my favorites and yet I do not write or take the time to do so, because I am under the impression that poetry is not valued nor recognized as an art and is not read as much.

To me, poetry is like music.

I think that Momaday's writings are imbued with poetry.

Poetry is the crown of literature. I think it's the highest of the literary arts. To write a great poem is to do as much as you can do in literature. Everything has to be very precise. The poem has to be informed with motive and emotion. You're bringing to bear everything that literature is based upon when you write a poem. A poem, if it succeeds, brings together the best of your intelligence, the best of your articulation, the best of your emotion. And that is the highest goal of literature, I suppose. I think of myself as a poet, I'd rather be a poet than a novelist, or some other sort of writer. I think I'm more recognized as a novelist, simply because I won a prize. But I write poetry consistently, though slowly. And it seems to be the thing that I want to do best. I would rather be a poet than a novelist, because I think it's on a slightly higher plane. You know, poets are the people who really are the most insightful among us. They stand in the best position to enlighten us, and encourage, and inspire us. What better thing could you be than a poet? That's how I think of it.

Momaday

Attempting to find a possible answer to the question: why the religion of peyote is but briefly mentioned in S. Momaday book, I found the following link, while I am not sure whether it is exact information:

http://peyote.org/

It comes from a book written about peyote ceremonies and the author explains these ceremonies differ from tribes to tribes. He mentions the Kiowas and Comanches, that this "cult" of peyote came more than likely from Mexico and from the tribes in that area. It was not supported by the US government.

http://www.entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=126&z=6

This next link explains somewhat more about the origin of the veneration for the small cactus and that the huichol and the Aztec knew about the peyote, linking it with the belief that it embodies the creator's heart. It seems that the ceremonies and sacramental use of the cactus were considered diabolical by the Spanish inquisition.

This piece of writing goes on describing how when the Kiowas and others were bound to the reservations, and not free, the peyote rituals expanded.

I do not know if these could be reasons for Momaday not to expand or if also it could be because the rituals were in fact to be private or personal experiences not to be shared with others but meant to be kept to oneself? These were considered spiritual experiences and not just events to have induced visions.

Any ideas?

I found the following in an article about the Leonid meteor showers of 1833, it comes from the link: http://www.clarkfoundation.org/astro-utah/vondel/Leonids98.html

One record stated that the Kiowa...were wakened by a sudden light. Running out from the tipis, they found the night as bright as day, with a myriad of meteors darting about in the sky. The parents aroused the children, saying, "Get up, get up, there is something awful going on." They had never before known such an occurrence, and regarded it as something ominous or dangerous, and sat watching it with dread and apprehension until daylight.

As Scott Momaday mentions on page 85, the Kiowas seem to associate this meteor shower with negative events and with the disintegration of what was, a life that was. It seems that in their minds it coincide with the decline of their culture, a treaty with th United States, which might not have been something positive for them, with the end of an era.

Link

Although it is Wikipedia, I still find it interesting to read about possible origins of Native American tribes.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

Way to Rainy Mountain

1. I would think that one of the reasons, if there is more than one, is for Momaday to preserve the story telling tradition and attempt to put it into written words, thus reaching more people and sharing the Kiowas tradition. IN his preface, he writes that in the beginning was the word and it was spoken. He writes about reading it outloud and I think it is indeed very interesting to read silently the book and then read it out loud as a story.
2. What are the materials from which the book is constructed, and from where do they originate.I understand that the stories, materials constructing the book are from his father and the voice of Kiowa oral tradition, another of the materials come from history and historic recollections, and the other materials come from the author and his recollection, thoughts, experiences.

N. Scott Momaday lecture

I truly enjoyed the lecture. I read the book once but, of course, have to read it again.

I find the writing and his way of reading very visual and alive. He gave a good background about the Kiowas' migration and I am in the process of learning more about it.

I really like the book and the way it is written and presented. There is the history, the mythical, the story telling and personal experience.

Ceremony after thoughts

While I found it difficult to read and understand, not because of the language but because of the story itself and the intensity of the protagonists lives and situations, I definitely appreciate Silko's writing skills, the very visual way to describe places, events, people's psychology, the poetry that is interspersed and contribute greatly to the book.

I still would rather read books more historical about the Native American culture, and story told by "ancients" who recall their past.

But it is an interesting and compelling book, one which I should read again with more time to do so.

I want to research more about the history and background locations as well.

Ceremony/end

Ceremony seems to end with Tayo being more or less healed from the demons, from evasion in alcohol and from his "friends". I found the description very vivid and difficult to read for the violence and description of being constantly drunk, for example Harvey and Elmo.

A necessary part of the ceremony that is part of Tayo's healing process seems to be the love for the woman he meets. I could not help wonder at times, if this was a fictitious meeting and love relationship or was it real. The writing raises the question in my opinion, at least when I do read it. As the lines between "reality" and imagination and past events are blurred.

I find it difficult to read that Tayo meets this woman and nearly immediately an intimate relationship arises...

It seems that part of the ceremony is linked with healing plants/herbs, the earth and of course finding the cattle.

Anyone would have suggestions about the meaning of finding the cattle...besides the fact that Tayo felt that it was his duty, but it seems to have more symbolic meaning linked with his healing.

Alcohol and "good old days"

It seems that the protagonists in the novel use alcohol as a way to "handle" the demons haunting them, namely war remembrances, as many veterans have been doing. Not only veterans but also in this novel as in the previous one, Native Americans who feel that they lost their identity as Native Americans, their land, culture, lifestyle and who have tied into "white lifestyle".

Drinking in Silko as well as in Erdrich seems to be also linked to a way to "deal" or not know how to deal with racism from Whites towards Native American.

We see also, on page 39, for instance that Tayo, even while he is drinking is aware of the senselessness of it all, and of the effect that alcohol has on him as well as his friends. He says: “ ..trying to bring back that old feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the war.” Silko touches also on the issue of losing the land taken by white people and the complexity of the issue: “…they blamed themselves just like they blame themselves for losing the land the white people took. They never thought to blame white people for any of it; they wanted white people for their friends.”

colors, flashbacks, time

In Ceremony, colors and flashbacks seem to take a great importance, at least as far as I read. Time seems to be non linear, in that Silko goes back and forth between past and present, colors or lack thereof complement this sense of plunging back in to the past or suddenly being brought back into the present, different time, different place.
For instance, on page 13, we read about the current state of Tayo, where he lives, dry and desolate. Silko mentions white hairs growing out of the mule's lips.
She then brings the reader back to Tayo in the hospital. He describes himself as white smoke. He talks about being invisible, while Silko still brings colors and a misty quality to her description of white smoke, invisibility and even to the brightness of the location.
She uses flashbacks to the jungle and describes poignantly how Tayo feels sick ongoingly.
She brings us back to the present with Harley and the vibrant colors of the SouthWest. She brings us back to the way Tayo and Harley "deal" with their PSTD, attempting to go to bars and drink.

Ceremony

I find the writing style of Leslie Marmon Silko very evocative, visual, she uses many colors in her words and description of the land, of the inner emotional states of Tayo, Harley. It is a delicate yet powerful style of writing and usage of words.

I think that Tayo, Rocky, Emo and Harley know each other from the reservation and from their youth. Josiah is part of it too but he stayed in the reservation, as I understand it.

Silko uses flashbacks in her description of Tayo during the war, during his captivity and after during his illness, and his constant PTSD as we call it nowadays. She blurs time and space, as these are blurred for Tayo who is constantly experiencing the past even in the present.

As in Erdrich, we can see that alcohol is a way to anesthetize one's senses to pain and suffering and facing reality. Alcohol was brought by the settlers to Native American who did not use it, and they fell for its addiction and the way to escape their loss of identity, and as in the case in our book, to escape the suffering brought by the war and its horrors.

In an article I read (http://history.hanover.edu/hhr/hhr93_2.html), the author explains the importance of three figures in Pueblo mythology: Thought Woman, Corn Mother and Sun father, as we can read also in Silko.

Another comment on Silko's interview

Another striking statement,

The first one relates to the fact that each person has a contribution to make and that the older you are the more valued you are. It seems to be true in some cultures of South America as well and in the Hassidic/kabbalist culture/religion as well.

It is so important to me, as we can see in our society, US as well as in France, for example, that when someone is getting "older" (for some 40 is old and surely 50) is considered a reject or someone who has nothing to bring, neither professionally, neither as a person.

I find the introduction to Native American culture, literature and narrative very interesting and I look forward to further reading.

"Yes, it is a culture in which each person has a contribution to make. The older you are the more valued you are but each person is valued. The oral tradition stays in the human brain and then it is a collective effort in the recollection. So when he is telling a story and she is telling a story and you are telling a story and one of us is listening and there is a slightly different version or a detail, then it is participatory when somebody politely says I remember it this way. It is a collective memory and depends upon the whole community. There is no single entity that controls information or dictates but this oral tradition is a constantly self-correcting process"

Leslie Marmon Silko

While I am still attempting to recover from an acute bronchitis and complications, and while I still have to finish posting regarding Love Medicine, I am starting with the next book to make sure I do keep up with the assignments and work my way back to the previous book.

I am reading about the author, the interview made when she visited Leipzig and a comment she made definitely caught my attention:

"Yes, when one grows up in the Pueblo community, in the Pueblo tribe the people are communal people, it is an egalitarian communal society. The education of the children is done within the community, this is in the old times before the coming of the Europeans. Each adult works with every child, children belong to everybody and the way of teaching is to tell stories. All information, scientific, technological, historical, religious, is put into narrative form. It is easier to remember that way. So when I began writing when I was at the University of New Mexico, the professor would say now you write your poetry or write a story, write what you know they always tell us. All I knew was my growing up at Laguna, recallings of some other stories that I had been told as a child."

Several things come to mind-

I was reading an excerpt from the latest book written by H.H.The Dalai Lama, who mentions the sense of deep loneliness experienced by many individuals in our society, due to the loss of the sense of community, lack of involvement in one's community, whatever community it may be. There are many reasons for the loss of belonging to a community in such a mobile and technology oriented society....

I find it very interesting that the author describes that all experience and information is related in narrative form. It also reminds me of Jewish culture, which, as far as I know has a lot of narrative and story telling in the Hassidic tradition.

The sense of raising children in a community reminds me somewhat of Herland, the utopic society evoked by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.