A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World (Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers, 1)

The Haida World Is A Misty Archipelago A Hundred Stormy Miles Off The Coasts Of British Columbia And Alaska. For A Thousand Years And More Before The Europeans Came, A Great Culture Flourished In These Islands. The Masterworks Of Classical Haida Sculpture, Now Enshrined In Many Of The World's Great Museums, Range From Exquisite Tiny Amulets To Magnificent Huge Housepoles. Classical Haida Literature Is Every Bit As Various And Fine. It Extends From Tiny Jewels Crafted By Master Songmakers To Elaborate Mythic Cycles Lasting Many Hours. The Linguist And Ethnographer John Swanton Took Dictation From The Last Great Haida-speaking Storytellers, Poets And Historians From The Fall Of 1900 Through The Summer Of 1901. His Haida Hosts And Colleagues Had Been Raised In A Wholly Oral World Where The Mythic And The Personal Interpenetrate Completely. They Joined Forces With Their Visitor, Consciously Creating A Great Treasury Of Haida Oral Literature In Written Form. Poet And Linguist Robert Bringhurst Has Worked For Many Years With These Century-old Manuscripts, Which Have Waited Until Now For The Broad Recognition They Deserve. Bringhurst Brings These Works To Life In The English Language And Sets Them In A Context Just As Rich As The Stories Themselves--one That Reaches Out To Dozens Of Native American Oral Literatures, And To Mythtelling Traditions Around The Globe. The World Of Classical Haida Literature Is A World As Deep As The Ocean, As Close As The Heart And As Elusive As The Raven, Whose Unrepentant Laugh Persists Within It All. This Is A Tradition Brimming With Profundity, Hilariy And Love. It Belongs Where Bringhurst Sees It: Among The Great Traditions Of The World. Bringhurst, An Acclaimed Typographer And Book Designer, Will Be Redesigning This Edition In A Beautiful New Package. Robert Bringhurst. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 501-526) And Index. English And Haida. A seminal collection of Haida myths and legends; now in a gorgeous new package. The linguist and ethnographer John Swanton took dictation from the last great Haida-speaking storytellers, poets and historians from the fall of 1900 through the summer of 1901. Together they created a great treasury of Haida oral literature in written form. Having worked for many years with these century-old manuscripts, linguist and poet Robert Bringhurst brings both rigorous scholarship and a literary voice to the English translation of John Swanton's careful work. He sets the stories in a rich context that reaches out to dozens of native oral literatures and to myth-telling traditions around the globe. Attractively redesigned, this collection of First Nations oral literature is an important cultural record for future generations of Haida, scholars and other interested readers. It won the Edward Sapir Prize, awarded by the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, and it was chosen as the Literary Editor's Book of the Year by the Times of London. Bringhurst brings these works to life in the English language and sets them in a context just as rich as the stories themselves one that reaches out to dozens of Native American oral literatures, and to mythtelling traditions around the world. Contents Preface to the Second Edition Prologue 1 Sghwaansing 1 Goose Food 2 Spoken Music 3 The One They Hand Along 4 Wealth Has Big Eyes 5 Oral Tradition and the Individual Talent 2 Sting 6 The Anthropologist and the Dogfish 7 Who's Related to Whom? 8 The Epic Dream 9 The Shaping of the Canon 10 The Flyting of Skaay and Xhyuu 3 Hlghun’uhl 11 You Are That Too 12 Sleek Blue Beings 13 The Iridescent Silence of the Trickster 14 The Last People in the World 4 Stansing 15 A Knife That Could Open Its Mouth 16 The Historian of Ttanuu 17 Chase What’s Gone 5 Tliihl 18 A Blue Hole in the Heart 19 The Prosody of Meaning 20 Shellheap of the Spirit-Beings 21 1 November 1908 22 How the Town Mother’s Wife Became the Widow of Her Husband’s Sister’s Sons Political Afterword Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Notes to the Text Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Credits Index