The Light People

A Novel

Gordon Henry

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780870136641
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628954531
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

The Light People is a multi-genre novel that includes a series of nested stories about a tribal community in Northern Minnesota. Major themes include Oskinaway's search for his parents and the legal wrangling over the possession of a leg that has been removed from a tribal elder. Each story is linked to previous and successive stories to form a discourse on identity and cultural appropriation, all told with humor and wisdom.
     Taking inspiration from traditional Anishinabe stories and drawing from his own family's storytelling tradition, Gordon Henry, Jr., has woven a tapestry of interlocking narratives in The Light People, a novel of surpassing emotional strength. His characters tell of their experiences, dreams, and visions in a multitude of literary styles and genres. Poetry, drama, legal testimony, letters, and essays combine with more conventional narrative techniques to create a multifaceted, deeply rooted, and vibrant portrait of the author's own tribal culture. Keenly aware of Eurocentric views of that culture, Henry offers a "corrective history" where humor and wisdom transcend the political. 
    In the contemporary Minnesota village of Four Bears, on the mythical Fineday Reservation, a young Chippewa boy named Oskinaway is trying to learn the whereabouts of his parents. His grandparents turn for help to a tribal elder, one of the light people, Jake Seed. Seed's assistant, a magician who performs at children's birthday parties, tells Oskinaway's family his story, which gives way to the stories of those he encounters. Narratives unfold into earlier narratives, spinning back in time and encompassing the intertwined lives of the Fineday Chippewas, eventually revealing the place of Oskinaway and his parents in a complex web of human relationships.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Invisible Trails
• Arthur Boozhoo on the Nature of Magic
• Rose Meskwaa Geeshik’s Monologue on Images
• Oshawa’s Story
• Oshawa’s Uncle’s Story
• Bombarto Rose: Mixed-Blood Musings in Obscurity
• The Autobiographical Profile of Bombarto Rose: An Essay on Personal Origins
• The Prisoner of Haiku
• Haiku and Dream Songs of Elijah Cold Crow
• Bombarto Rose: Essay on Parameters of Residence
• Bombarto Rose: A Note to Hold the Eyes
• Bombarto Rose: Winter Song
• Old Woman Cold Crow’s Monologue on the Death of Her Son
• Old Woman Cold Crow’s Story as Payment to Bombarto Rose
• Abetung’s Story
• Geeshis
• Franklin Squandum’s Death Dream: A Mini-Drama for Native Dancers
• Squandum’s Funeral
• Requiem for a Leg
• Oshawanung’s Story: Waking in the Library
• Systems and Witnesses for the Museum
• The Anthro’s Tale
• After the Requiem
• Oshawa’s Attempt to Kill
• Rose Meskwaa Geeshik’s After-image Dreams
• Arthur Boozhoo: Two Dogs Stuck Together
• Seed’s Journey to the Cave
• We the People