"The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi" by Hattie Greene Lockett. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
This is Lockett's Master's thesis, from the 1930s. I was hoping it wouldn't be racist, patronizing, and provincial; I was disappointed. I also was expecting it to be about the "unwritten literature" of the Hopi, when in reality that is largely restricted to (at most) 20% of the book, at a chapter near the end.
It gets two stars because that unwritten literature IS interesting, and I learned some things! That one chapter earns both stars! That says it all, doesn't it?
This book is part anthropology, part folklore and part history. I was able to learn more about the Hopi and their worldview, and how for them everything was imbued with significance and meaning, which is something I wish we had more of today.
Published in 1933, this is about as authentic a rendition as we're likely to get about many of the stories of the Hopi. Rather dry, but if you're interested in American literature as old as much European literature, this is a worthy read.