Book
The truth about stories : a native narrative / Thomas King.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780816646265
- ISBN: 0816646260
- ISBN: 9780816646272
- ISBN: 0816646279
- Physical Description: 172 pages ; 22 cm
- Publisher: Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
- Copyright: ©2003
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-172). |
| Formatted Contents Note: | "You'll never believe what happened" is always a great way to start -- You're not the Indian I had in mind -- Let me entertain you -- A million porcupines crying in the dark -- What is it about us that you don't like? |
| Summary, etc.: | "In The Truth About Stories, Native novelist and scholar Thomas King explores how stories shape who we are and how we understand and interact with other people. From creation stories to personal experiences, historical anecdotes to social injustices, racist propaganda to works of contemporary Native literature, King probes Native culture's deep ties to storytelling." "Thomas King weaves events from his own life, as a child in California, an academic in Canada, and a Native North American, with a wide-ranging discussion of stories told by and about Indians." "That imaginative Indian that North Americans hold dear has been challenged by Native writers - N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louis Owens, Robert Alexie, and others - who provide alternative narratives of the Native experience that question a past, create a present, and imagine a future. King reminds the reader, Native and non-Native, that storytelling carries with it social and moral responsibilities."--Jacket. |
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| Genre: | Creative nonfiction. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at GRPL.
BookList Review
The Truth about Stories : A Native Narrative
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Trust a novelist and English professor to get to the heart of how stories and storytelling shape our perceptions. Oral stories, King asserts, are public, requiring interaction with an audience. Gathering oral stories into book form compromises the narratives; once set on the page, a story loses its context and voice. And written stories are usually private; no matter how many people read a particular book, each person reads that story as an individual. While King primarily considers narratives by and about Indians, his unusual treatise also includes coverage of a lengthy stay in New Zealand, identity politics, Native American history, and the experience of being the only middle-aged member of an amateur basketball team. Ultimately, King exhorts listeners to accept the responsibility of stories, writing, Take it. It's yours. Do with it what you will. But don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now. This is a wonderful study of the power of words. --Rebecca Maksel Copyright 2005 Booklist
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