Customer Reviews

Choctaw Tales

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The book begins with a rich descriptions of the various settings in which the stories of the Choctaw people continue to be told. Mould provides vivid accounts of a range of storytelling sessions and clearly shows that it isn't accurate to view this tradition as a lost art. He then provides a useful description of salient aspects of Choctaw history and culture to contextualize the stories. His discussions of the various narrative genres and the various spiritual and supernatural beings are especially intriguing. The book then consists of a well-organized and highly readable presentation of fascinating stories. Some of them were compiled from previous collections while others are stories that he collected with the assistance of people within the Choctaw community. The stories are interesting reading and provide an important documentation of a vibrant storytelling tradition. It is especially interesting to read these stories while thinking about the continuity of contemporary tales with the older stories of the past.

Choctaw Tales by Tom Mould, Phillip (University Press of Mississippi) Including stories from the 1700s to today, Choctaw Tales showcases the myths, legends, supernatural tales, prophecies, histories, animal tales and jokes that make up the rich and lively Choctaw storytelling tradition. The stories display intelligence, artistry, and creativity as the Choctaw narrators, past and present, express and struggle with beliefs, values, humor, and life experiences. Photographs of the storytellers complement the text. For sixteen tales, the Choctaw-language version appears in addition to the English translation.
Many of these stories, passed down through generations, address the Choctaw sense of isolation and tension as storytellers confront eternal, historical, and personal questions about the world and its inhabitants. Choctaw Tales, the first book to collect these stories, creates a comprehensive gathering of oral traditions from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
"Choctaw Tales is an admirable piece of work, in its care, its sense of responsibility, and its value to a larger community. Mould's account of his relations with the Choctaw people is impressive and his book can stand as a model of how to pre-sent traditional Native American narratives. Clearly the book will be of great value to Choctaw people and of equal value as an example to Native American people elsewhere?' -DELL H Y M E S, author of "In Vain I Tried to Tell You": Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics and Now I Know Only So Far: Essays in Ethnopoetics

TOM MOULD is a professor of folklore at Elon University and is the author of Choctaw Prophecy: A Legacy of the Future.