Okla Hannali

by R. A. Lafferty, Geary Hobson (Foreword by)

Overview

"This curious and wonderful tall tale contributes to the apocalyptic revision of American history that began with Little Big Man and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It’s the tale of Hannali Innominee, a ’Mingo’ or natural lord of the 19th-century Choctaw Indian [and] a capacious, indomitable giant of the ilk of Paul Bunyan....Lafferty tells it straight: how the Choctaw nation, once removed, reconstituted itself and thrived in Indian territory...., how there came a schism between the rich, part-white, slave-owning, moneylending Choctaws and the ’feudal, compassionate, chauvinistic’ full-blooded freeholders like Hannali; and how, during the Civil War, the Indians were manipulated divide-and-conquer fashion in helping destroy each other."–Kirkus Reviews.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806123493
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	10/15/1991
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) was a writer and retired newspaperman in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has written many stories and several books, including Archipelago, The Devil Is Dead, Not to Mention Camels, and Ringing Changes.

Geary Hobson is Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma, author of the novel The Last of the Ofos, and editor of The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature.

Editorial Reviews

"This curious and wonderful tall tale contributes to the apocalyptic revision of American history that began with Little Big Man and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It’s the tale of Hannali Innominee, a ’Mingo’ or natural lord of the 19th-century Choctaw Indian [and] a capacious, indomitable giant of the ilk of Paul Bunyan....Lafferty tells it straight: how the Choctaw nation, once removed, reconstituted itself and thrived in Indian territory...., how there came a schism between the rich, part-white, slave-owning, moneylending Choctaws and the ’feudal, compassionate, chauvinistic’ full-blooded freeholders like Hannali; and how, during the Civil War, the Indians were manipulated divide-and-conquer fashion in helping destroy each other."–Kirkus Reviews.


“The history of the Choctaw Indians has been told before and is still being told, but it has never been told in the way Lafferty tells it….Hannali is a buffalo bull of a man who should become one of the enduring characters in the literature of the American Indian.”—Dee Brown


“The use of the epic form is unusual and effective, and Lafferty’s humor is both subtle and boisterous: he writes with warmth and sympathy for the Indian. This is a valuable addition to the growing literature on the subject.—Library Journal


“[Okla Hannali] is elemental Americana and a great deal of fun.”—Wall Street Journal


“It’s an American classic.”—Voice Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Reprint of the 1949 U. of Oklahoma Press edition with a six page addendum. No bibliographic references. An unaltered reprint of the novel on the Choctaw removal (Doubleday, 1972). Now printed on non-acidic paper. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews