Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas through their Literature [Paperback]

Gordon Brotherston (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521314933 | ISBN-13: 978-0521314930 | Publication Date: November 24, 1995

The Book of the Fourth World offers detailed analyses of texts that range far back into the centuries of civilised life from what is now Latin- and Anglo-America. At the time of its 'discovery', the American continent was identified as the Fourth World of our planet. In the course of just a few centuries its original inhabitants, though settled there for millennia and countable in many millions, have come to be perceived as a marginal if not entirely dispensable factor in the continent's destiny. Today the term has been taken up again by its native peoples, to describe their own world: both its threatened present condition, and its political history, which stretches back thousands of years before Columbus. In order to explore the literature of this world, Brotherston uses primary sources that have traditionally been ignored because they have not conformed to Western definitions of oral and written literature, such as the scrolls of the Algonkin, the knotted strings (Quipus) of the Inca, Navajo dry-paintings and the encyclopedic pages of Meso-America's screenfold books.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'... a deeply informed, and compelling attempt to come to terms with an alien and, in so many respects, vanished cultural world'. Guardian 'All who are curious about the 'New World' ... will find no better place to begin than here. Brotherston's Book of the Fourth World hushes the din of Europe talking to itself about America, and lets America be heard.' The Times Literary Supplement '... an excellent new study ... as readable as it is original'. New Statesman and Society

Book Description

The Book of the Fourth World offers detailed analyses of texts that range far back into the centuries of civilised life from what is now Latin- and Anglo-America. In order to explore the literature of this world, Brotherston uses primary sources that have traditionally been ignored because they have not conformed to Western definitions of oral and written literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 520 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521314933
• ISBN-13: 978-0521314930
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,094,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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