Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department / School
English
Abstract
This thesis will examine how Paula Gunn Allen and Leslie Marmon Silko employ traditional Keres and non-Keres myths in their novels The Woman Who Owned the Shadows and Almanac of the Dead. Both novels present Native myths within contemporary settings so that past and present become inextricably intertwined in a circle of time without beginning or end. Since the time structure of all traditional legends is circular, Allen and Silko seem to follow closely the original pattern of the myths. This thesis will illustrate Allen's approach to Keres and non-Keres myths and Silko's representations of Native cultures of North America, Mesoamerica, and West Africa, focusing on how the two authors' mixed blood status, femaleness, and education, as well as Allen's homosexuality, cause them to approach the oral tradition differently.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Allen, Paula Gunn. Woman who owned the shadows
Silko, Leslie, 1948- Almanac of the dead
Keresan mythology
Myth in literature
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
158
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Ragaini, Cecilia, "Paula Gunn Allen and Leslie Marmon Silko : Two Approaches to Traditional Keres Myths" (1997). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 285.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/285