Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America

by Joy Harjo (Editor), Gloria Bird (Editor), Patricia Blanco (Editor), Beth Cuthand (Editor), Valerie Martinez (Editor)

Overview

"A collection of important, eloquent, and often mesmerizing writings by American Indian Women. . . . A profoundly moving statement of resilience and renewal."—San Francisco Chronicle

This long-awaited anthology celebrates the experience of Native American women and is at once an important contribution to our literature and an historical document. It is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind to collect poetry, fiction, prayer, and memoir from Native American women. Over eighty writers are represented from nearly fifty nations, including such nationally known writers as Louise Erdrich, Linda Hogan, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lee Maracle, Janet Campbell Hale, and Luci Tapahonso; others — Wilma Mankiller, Winona LaDuke, and Bea Medicine — who are known primarily for their contributions to tribal communities; and some who are published here for the first time in this landmark volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393318289
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/17/1998
Pages:	578
Sales rank:	532,504
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Gloria Bird lives in Nespelem, Washington.

Joy Harjo is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is the author of nine poetry collections and two memoirs, most recently Poet Warrior. The recipient of the 2023 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, and the 2017 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, she lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Editorial Reviews

Coeditors Harjo (The Woman Who Fell from the Sky, LJ 11/15/94) and Bird (Full Moon on the Reservation, Greenfield Review, 1994) have put together a one-of-a-kind anthology of fiction, poetry, and memoir from over 80 Native women writers representing over 50 nations. Although nationally known writers such as Louise Erdrich, Linda Hogan, and Leslie Silko are included, many others are being published here for the first time. More than a collection of literature, this work is divided into four sectionsgenesis, struggle, transformation, and returningto illuminate the writing process. Each writer introduces herself and her philosophical perspective about writing, and the willingness to share personal stories makes this a work of rare beauty, truth, and power. In addition, the anthology also highlights the writers' views on universal concerns such as violence against women, poverty, alcoholism, depression, government/Native American relations, and, especially, identity and place. Recommended for all libraries.Vicki Leslie Toy Smith, Univ. of Nevada, Reno

Library Journal