A Story as Sharp as a Knife
The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World, and: Nine Visits to the Mythworld/Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas (review)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12099666 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bill Siverly (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 196-204 |
| Publication date | 2002-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Wicazo Sa Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0749-6427 • E-ISSN: 1533-7901 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/wic.2002.0021 |
| OpenAlex | W2051981373 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
The Haida mythtellers were poets, maintains Canadian poet, linguist, and scholar Robert Bringhurst in his book Story as Sharp as a Knife. His apparently straightforward claim requires 414 pages (plus another hundred pages of appendices, notes, and bibliography) to explain, including the meaning of terms like "mythteller" and "poet." Bringhurst must also develop deep context: the history of the Haida; the transmission of Haida culture through orality (and thus, the Haida language as instrument), totem and mortuary poles, and ceremonial feasts; the villages, moieties, and ecology of Haida Gwaay itself; and most decisively, the genius of two of the Haida mythtellers ofwhom we have record, Ghandl and Skaay. The result of Bringhurst's many years of labor on this project is one of the most engrossing books on traditional indigenous literature that I have ever read
Genius · Orality · Totem · African history and culture analysis · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis
| Highly cited | No |
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