Sending My Heart Back Across the Years : Tradition and Innovation in Native American Autobiography - Hertha Dawn Wong

Sending My Heart Back Across the Years

Tradition and Innovation in Native American Autobiography

By: Hertha Dawn Wong

Hardcover | 1 December 1996

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Using contemporary autobiography theory, and literary and anthropological approaches, Wong traces the development of Native American autobiography from pre-literate oral, artistic, and dramatic personal narratives through late nineteenth/early twentieth-century life histories to contemporary autobiographies. Her purpose is to expand the definitions of autobiography to include non-written forms of personal narrative and non-Western concepts of self, and to highlight the incorporation of traditional tribal modes of personal narrative into Westerm forms of contemporary autobiography.The first chapter presents Wong''s theoretical framework, considering Native American traditions of personal narrative in the context of the most recent work on autobiography theory. After this theoretical section, the book is arranged by the three basic historical periods of Native American literaturres: 1) the pre-Columbian period which includes oral and pictographic forms of personal narrative; 2) the late nineteenth/early twentieth-century transitional period which includes as-told-to life histories that were solicited, translated, and edited by white editors and a few autobiographies written by Indians; 3) the contemporary period which includes written autobiographies that combine Native American and Euro-American forms and themes. These categories emphasize the historical shift from orality to literacy as well as the transition from pre-contact tribal life to post-contact reservation life.
Industry Reviews
"A remarkable synthesis....Well written, well organized, and insightful....A book that will endure on the shelves of those who work in the fields of American-Indian history, American-Indian literature, oral history, and in the fields of biography and autobiography in the United States."--Florida Historical Review "Numerous photographs of pictographs not only illustrate [Wong's] argument but also provide the reader with an excellent sample of this very interesting but not readily available material....Wong's study opens up rewarding new avenues in the study of Native American autobiography."--North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains "A serious study that helps readers to better understand the evolution of Native American life and literature."--Magill Book Reviews "A welcome addition to previous books on the subject....Sending My Heart Back Across the Years contains useful, engaging, nontechnical discussion of several Plains autobiographers and their work."--American Literature "An excellent scholarly work by Professor Wong. It provides for cross cultural understanding through synthesis as well as analysis rather than static academic narrative."--The Chronicles of Oklahoma "A remarkable synthesis....Well written, well organized, and insightful....A book that will endure on the shelves of those who work in the fields of American-Indian history, American-Indian literature, oral history, and in the fields of biography and autobiography in the United States."--Florida Historical Review "Numerous photographs of pictographs not only illustrate [Wong's] argument but also provide the reader with an excellent sample of this very interesting but not readily available material....Wong's study opens up rewarding new avenues in the study of Native American autobiography."--North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains "A serious study that helps readers to better understand the evolution of Native American life and literature."--Magill Book Reviews "A welcome addition to previous books on the subject....Sending My Heart Back Across the Years contains useful, engaging, nontechnical discussion of several Plains autobiographers and their work."--American Literature "An excellent scholarly work by Professor Wong. It provides for cross cultural understanding through synthesis as well as analysis rather than static academic narrative."--The Chronicles of Oklahoma

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