Research Catalog

Title

(S)aged by culture : representations of old age in American Indian literature and culture / Philipp Kneis.

Author

Kneis, Philipp.

Publication

• Frankfurt am Main ; New York : Peter Lang Edition, [2013]
• ©2013

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

298 pages; 22 cm

Summary

Colonization has imposed drastic changes on indigenous societies in North America. This process has reverberated through cultural conceptions and constructions of social roles, particularly affecting the roles of elders and the old. This book charts these changes by analyzing representations of old age in American Indian literature. In comparing traditional stories with contemporary works, the analytical focus lies on establishing what developments can be observed in the conceptualizing of old age and visible in representations of social, political and cultural roles, such as that of the sage. Authors discussed include Sherman Alexie, Chrystos, Louise Erdrich, Janet Campbell Hale, N. Scott Momaday, Simon Ortiz, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucy Tapahonso, Velma Wallis, and James Welch.--Back cover.

Subject

• American literature > Indian authors > History and criticism
• Old age in literature
• Social role in literature
• Indian philosophy > North America
• Indians in literature
• Indian philosophy
• American literature > Indian authors
• Literatur
• Indianer
• Alter
• Mündliche Überlieferung
• Littérature américaine > Auteurs indiens d'Amérique > Thèmes, motifs
• Vieillesse > Dans la littérature
• Indiens d'Amérique > Dans la littérature
• Philosophie indienne d'Amérique
• Indiens d'Amérique > Amérique du Nord > Dans la littérature
• North America
• USA

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 266-292) and index.

Contents

• Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- pt. I Of Age and Elders -- 2. The Cultural Imagining of Old Age -- 2.1. The "Roleless Role": Gerontology as a Response to Social Change -- 2.2. Managing Old Age: Biological Aging, Ageism, Ableism -- 2.3. Difference Across Time: Studying Old Age Throughout History -- 2.4. Difference Across Cultures: Gerontology and Cultural Anthropology -- 2.5. Age and the Cultural Imaginary: Age Studies as Cultural Studies -- 3. Indian Identity and Tribal Elders -- 3.1. Tradition-Directed Society and Modernity -- 3.2. Tradition-Directed Identity in Modernity -- 3.3. Imagined Communities and Post-Indians -- 3.4. Sages of the New Age -- 3.5. Contemporary Approaches Towards American Indian Identity -- 3.6. Old Age and Indian Identity -- pt. II Traditional Stories -- 4. Traditional Oral Narratives and their Complications -- 4.1. Traditional Stories between Folklore and Literature -- 4.2. Key Issues in Native Stories -- 4.3. The Figure of the "Sage."
• 4.4. Excursus: Oral Literature as a Basis for Written Literature -- 5. Old Age in Traditional Stories -- 5.1. Supernatural Characters: Old Creators, Tricksters and Deities -- 5.2. Old People and the Order of Things -- 5.3. Old People and the End of the World -- 5.4. Old People, Partnership and Sexuality -- 5.5. Lonely Old People -- 5.6. Findings and Analysis -- 6. Traditional Stories in Transformation -- 6.1. Reinventing the Oral Tradition on Paper: Barbara Duncan's Living Stories of the Cherokee (1998) -- 6.2. Leslie Marmon Silko's Storyteller (1981) -- 6.3. Retirement as Abandonment: Velma Wallis' Two Old Women (1993) -- pt. III Modern Literature -- 7. Trickster Permutations: Saged Heroes and Resilient Elders -- 7.1. Tricksters New and Old -- 7.2. Louise Erdrich: Nanapush in Tracks (1988), The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse (2001) and Four Souls (2004) -- 7.3. James Welch: Yellow Calf in Winter in the Blood (1974) -- 7.4. The Paradigm of Modernity: James Welch's "In My Lifetime" (1971) as Read Vis-a-Vis Winter in the Blood.
• 7.5. Sherman Alexie: Big Mom in Reservation Blues (1995) -- 8. Aging Relations: Place and Belonging -- 8.1. James Welch: "Grandfather at the Rest Home" (1971) -- 8.2. James Welch: Grandmother in Winter in the Blood (1974) -- 8.3. Janet Campbell Hale: "Claire" (1999) -- 8.4. Sherman Alexie: "One Good Man" (2000) -- 8.5. James Welch, The Death of Jim Loney (1979) -- 8.6. Intersections of Old Age and Gender: Chrystos' Old Women -- 9. Old Age as Loss: Cultural vs. Individual Memory of the Old -- 9.1. N. Scott Momaday: "Plainview 2" (1976) and House Made of Dawn (1966) -- 9.2. Sherman Alexie: "Dear John Wayne" (2000) -- 9.3. Sherman Alexie's Grandmothers -- 9.4. Chrystos: "They're Always Telling Me I'm Too Angry" (1995) -- 9.5. Luci Tapahonso: "A Discreet Conversation" (1987) -- pt. IV Old Age, Sages and Tradition -- 10. Haunted by Tradition -- 10.1. Simon Ortiz: "Long House Valley Poem" (1992) -- 10.2. The Spectrality of the Old -- 10.3. A Golden Age of Old Age? -- 10.4. Sages Instead of Politicians.

ISBN

• 9783631638538
• 3631638531

LCCN

2013012569

OCLC

• ocn841212217
• 841212217
• SCSB-1698557

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library