Sky Loom

Native American Myth, Story, and Song

Brian Swann

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780803246157
• eBook ISBN: 9780803276017
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Native American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Sky Loom offers a dazzling introduction to Native American myths, stories, and songs drawn from previous collections by acclaimed translator and poet Brian Swann. With a general introduction by Swann, Sky Loom is a stunning collection that provides a glimpse into the intricacies and beauties of story and myth, placing them in their cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts.

Each of the twenty-six selections is translated and introduced by a well-known expert on Native oral literatures and offers entry into the cultures and traditions of several different tribes and bands, including the Yupiit and the Tlingits of the polar North; the Coast Salish and the Kwakwaka’wakw of the Pacific Northwest; the Navajos, the Pimas, and the Yaquis of the Southwest; the Lakota Sioux and the Plains Crees of the Great Plains; the Ojibwes of the Great Lakes; the Naskapis and the Eastern Crees of the Hudson Bay area in Canada; and the Munsees of the Northeast. Sky Loom takes the reader on a wide-ranging journey through literary traditions older than the “discovery” of the New World.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• From Smoothing the Ground
• From On the Translation of Native American Literatures
• From Coming to Light
• From Voices from Four Directions
• From Algonquian Spirit
• From Salish Myths and Legends
• Source Acknowledgments
• Contributors