Nine Visits to the Mythworld: Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas

by Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas, Robert Bringhurst (Translator )

The nine stories contained in this volume are the finest offerings from one of the last of the traditional Haida storytellers, Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas. Ghandl was born in 1851 in a small Haida island community off the coast of British Columbia. His world was devastated by waves of European diseases, which wiped out over ninety percent of the Haidas and robbed him of his sight. He became a skilled listener, taking in the myths, legends, and everyday stories of his people. Creatively adapting them, the blind storyteller became a master of his craft. In 1900 John Swanton, with the help of a translator, transcribed a number of Ghandl's narrative poems.Nearly all of the poems in this volume are qqaygaang, narrative poems set in the Haida mythtime of long ago. One story, “The Names of Their Gambling Sticks,” is a qqayaagaang, a story that juxtaposes mythtime and historical time and is the property of a Haida family. Each poem creatively enacts a myth in a way that illuminates and celebrates the traditional world of the Haidas and reveals Ghandl's own acute sense of the foibles and great potential of all human beings. Meticulously and sensitively translated and annotated by Robert Bringhurst, these stories have finally been given the attention they deserve.

Genres: Indigenous, Poetry

222 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[Keith Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I've been interested for years in Haida culture (who could not be once in the presence of those poles, no matter where one finds them!), but I came to this book through Robert Bringhurst. I know and love his poetry. I know the work he has done with Haida sculptor Bill Reid, and have a lovely book they did together of children's stories. And I knew of his long work in Haida Gwaii with the people and with the language.

So even though I have no access to the original, I trust these in a way I have never really been able to trust other things like this (say those early Howard Norman "versions"). Although Bringhurst doesn't give much critical apparatus here (apparently this is only the second of three volumes he did on this work), he gives just enough to point out the structure of the stories/poems. It becomes clear that Ghandl made some significant and difficult artistic choices while making these stories out of the material he received from his culture. Bringhurst's point that these are classic North American epics that deserve a heightened place in the literature of the continent is well taken and proven by this collection.

But, best of all, when I would read these late at night and start drifting off with the book in my lap, I would find myself in this language of repetition, among the orcas and the eagles and the clams, drifting on that cold ocean with the spruce trees off on the shore. It was a magical reading experience. I think it might have been something like, or a small and faint image of, the experience the original listeners might have had on Haida Gwaii. How often do you get a chance like that?!!

[Léa Taranto · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I appreciated that this book had much less background information but still provided necessary appendixes, several of the myths featured in this book were already shared in the previous volume. As a stand alone book, this is excellent. I just wish there was more variety. Nevertheless, Ghandl's unique voice shines through the muddled lens of the English language.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult read, but even if I couldn't understand these stories like the Haida people did/do, I could at least sense the importance in each word. The introduction is helpful as it provides context for how the stories were translated as well as the Haida people's history, Ghandl's biography and role as a storyteller, and some cultural information that proves useful when reading.

[flightofbirds]

DNF given https://www.circuitmagazine.org/dossi... and https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

Bringhurst appears to have translated this without permission from the Haida Nation.

[Tao Zheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool to learn that the Haida oral tradition lives on now in the English language!

[Ronald Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haida myths as told by the storyteller Ghandl. I learned of this book through a list of Bringhurst's works published in his book A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World, which I read in April 2004. This was printed as a sequel to Story and contained a purer presentation of the stories themselves. Some of the background information was repeated, but this served as a convenient refresher of things I learned from the first book. This one ended with lighter, more humorous stories which actually made me chuckle a few times.

[Michael Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

In-depth presentation of classical Haida literature by selected authors, excellently translated according to Bringhurst's insights and sensitivities.

[Elizabeth]

I agree with Bringhurst: students of literature have neglected the epic tradition that has thrived on our continent. Reading these Haida poems is illuminating, enriching, exciting.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. The stories themselves are incredible, the translation is thrilling, and the translator's introduction is stunning. I've never read anything else like this.