Through the Eye of the Deer [Paperback]

Carolyn Dunn (Editor), Carol Comfort (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1999

By bringing together the voices of Native American women writers across time, regions, and tribes, this collection makes visible a dynamic tradition of women's wisdom and storytelling. From early legends to present-day fiction and poetry, this tradition emphasizes women's spiritual connection to the natural world and their contributions to tribal and familial community. Central to women's strength is the role of animal figures-Coyote, Owl, Beaver and Bear-who act as guides, helpers, and personal totems, appearing unexpectedly in the modern urban landscape as well as being a constant presence in nature.

The work of more than forty authors appears in this volume, representing tribes and regions extending over most of the U.S. and parts of Canada. Among the authors included are Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Leslie Marmon Silko, Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan and Beth Brant, along with writers whose work appears here for the first time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Editors Dunn and Comfort (Breaking Boundaries) bring together more than 50 pieces by almost as many authors and poets in this useful but somewhat frustrating anthology of work by Native women from the U.S. and Canada. Selections span time (the earliest pieces are from Mourning Dove and Ella Cara Deloria from the 1920s and 1930s) and numerous tribal traditions throughout North America. Centering on women's experiences, the first section concerns images of birth and creation; subsequent chapters deal with marriage and family, and women's powers and mysteries. Among works from well-known women writers are the prologue from Paula Gunn Allen's The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, and poems by Joy Harjo ("Deer Dancer" and "Wolf Warrior"), Luci Tapahonso ("Above the Canyon Floor") and Ines Hernandez-Avila ("Grandpa's Song for Little Bear"). Louise Erdrich is represented (in a selection from her novel Tracks), and so are Beth Brant ("Coyote Learns a New Trick") and Leslie Silko (material from Storyteller). Such new and emerging voices as Shaunna McCovey, Cheryl Savageau and Deborah Miranda are each accorded two selections. The collection, however, seems unbalanced. Many of the pieces, particularly those from the more noted writers, have appeared elsewhere, and most of these writers are represented by one brief entry, while lesser figures are granted more space. There are also curious omissions: there is nothing by E. Pauline Johnson, whom Beth Brant has described as the mother of Native women's literature. But despite its idiosyncrasies, there is enough material here to interest those already familiar with Native American literature, and to entice the uninitiated. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Aunt Lute Books; 1st edition (September 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879960583
• ISBN-13: 978-1879960589
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn Dunn is an American Indian artist of Cherokee, Muskogee Creek, and Seminole descent on her father's side, and is Cajun, French Creole, and Tunica-Biloxi on her mother's. Primarily a poet and a playwright, Carolyn began telling and writing stories at a very young age, being exposed to storytelling traditions from all aspects of her very Southern and very Western background. Her work has been recognized by the Wordcraft Circle of Storytellers and Writers as Book of the Year for poetry (Outfoxing Coyote, 2002) as well as the Year's Best in 1999 for her short story "Salmon Creek Road Kill", Native American Music Awards (for the Mankillers cd Comin to Getcha) and the Humboldt Area Foundation. She has a forthcoming poetry book, Echo Location, in 2009 and her most recent book is Coyote Speaks, native stories for young adult readers, coauthored with Ari Berk (Abrams, 2008).

As an academic, Carolyn's work has primarily focused on landscape in American Indian women's literature (poetry, prose, and drama), and urban American Indian identity formation and southeastern American Indian diasporic literary traditions in California. Currently, she is a James Irvine Foundation Fellow at the Center for American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, where she is pursuing a doctorate. She has taught and developed university curriculum in American Indian literature (poetry and fiction), history, and theatre; she has adapted and directed numerous radio theatre plays as well as staged productions of traditional stories, poems and songs with the American Indian Theatre Collective, Chapa De Indian Youth Theatre Company, The Los Angeles Theater Project, and directed a staged reading of Arigon Starr's one woman play, The Red Road for Native Voices at The Autry at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles in 2005.

Carolyn is currently a Lecturer in the American Indian Studies program at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches history, literature and film.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Architypal Stories for Living, June 17, 2001

By 

Dr. Lois Nightingale (Yorba Linda, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Through the Eye of the Deer (Paperback)

This book brings to our lives the anchient art of story-telling as is only seen in cultures living near the Earth. The stories have an ancient flavor and yet speak to our busy soul-serching lives today. This is a book that will inspire group discussion and personal growth as Estes' works have done. Women will be retelling these symbolic stories given us by the native women of our county as they have with "Women Who Run With the Wolves." This is a great book for women's circles and self-exploration groups wanting short stories with deep meaning and impact. I have enjoyed the book greatly and retell the stories in speaking engagements. The depth, humor and poignancy of these tales will stay with readers long after finishing the book.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Divine Ms. Carolyn Dunn strikes again . . ., March 22, 2009

By 

Harvest McCampbell "BookWorm" (Hoopa, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Through the Eye of the Deer (Paperback)

I just finished reading Through the Eye of the Deer / an Anthology of Native American Women Writers, edited by Carolyn Dunn and Carol Comfort. You will find lots of bedtime reading here, from some of the first published Native women and a goodly collection of contemporary writers. Most of your favorites probably have a story or poem included, there are a few familiar names that I actually didn't know were writers, and there are some great discoveries in previously unpublished writers.