An Overview of Native American Oral Literature::

Introduction

I will begin this article by defining 'literature' within a Native American context. For William Bright, literature incorporates "that body of discourses or texts which, within any society, is considered worthy of dissemination, transmission, and preservation in essentially constant form" (Bright 1984: 80).¹ As such, the term 'literature' in this article and in the works of numerous American Indianists refers to oral and written works. This all-inclusiveness is important for Native America, because, up until the 20th Century, oral literature remained the dominant form. However, despite this, Indian authors have published their written work since 1772, and printed American Indian literature has proliferated since 1968.

This article aims to give you an overview as the the diversity of American Indian oral narratives in order to explore whether or not such a diversity makes it difficult to define a singular Native American literature. This topic may also be explored through comparing the diversity of written texts, which range from written memoirs or autobiographies through novels and poetry; and you may even explore diversities and common themes between oral and written texts. This article focusses on oral narratives, which can be found in an abundance of resources, such as books on Indian myths, prayers and songs as well as general tribal ethnographies that contain information on such things.

Notes::

• 1 - William Bright. 1984. American Indian Linguistics and Literature. Berlin: Mouton.