Dead Voices

by Gerald Vizenor

Gerald Vizenor gives life to traditional tribal stories by presenting them in a new he challenges the idyllic perception of rural life, offering in its stead an unusual vision of survival in the cities-the sanctuaries for humans and animals. It is a tribal vision, a quest for liberation from forces that would deny the full realization of human possibilities. In this modern world his characters insist upon survival through an imaginative affirmation of the self. In Dead Voices Vizenor, using tales drawn from traditional tribal stories, illuminates the centuries of conflict between American Indians and Europeans, or "wordies." Bagese, a tribal woman transformed into a bear, has discovered a new urban world, and in a cycle of tales she describes this world from the perspective of animals-fleas, squirrels, mantis, crows, beavers, and finally Trickster, Vizenor’s central and unifying figure. The stories reveal unpleasant aspects of the dominate culture and American Indian culture such as the fur trade, the educational system, tribal gambling, reservation life, and in each the animals, who represent crossbloods, connect with their tribal traditions, often in comic fashion. As in his other fiction, Vizenor upsets our ideas of what fiction should be. His plot is fantastic; his story line is a roller-coaster ride requiring that we accept the idea of transformation, a key element in all his work. Unlike other Indian novelists, who use the novel as a means of cultural recovery, Vizenor finds the crossblood a cause for celebration.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

154 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an Anishinaabe writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shiny new penny to anyone who can find me another book that's inspired by both Samuel Beckett and Black Elk.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Native American voices are mingled with urban legends in a series of vignettes that come to us from a crazy woman living by Lake Merritt, Oakland. This woman believes that she can transform into different animals and presents her stories as if these transformations are literal. It's easy to draw parallels between her stories and Native American oppression, but such a reading would miss the larger, more varied picture Vizenor gives us. While the woman who tells the stories says they must never be written down, the first narrator writes them anyway. Vizenor might feel similar ambivalence about his own Swedish-Native American heritage - recognizing that war and conflict is what makes stories, and that the false peace of reservation life isn't creating new legends (but that city life is). Anyway, that was my interpretation, who knows if that's what Vizenor meant or not.

[Abby Charak · Rating 3 out of 5]

wild but rewarding read

[Rah~ri · Rating 3 out of 5]

mmm.


good?
bad?
yeh,sure,sure.
right.

just is what it is.

His books stay with a person for awhile though,
it seems.

might read more of his books.

also re-rereading a book by J.Krishnamurti on fear-ish stuff
intresting to read one then see the same sentiments written
with a totally different spin.
the wording and derections may seem strange,
almost disorientating even,
but the sentiment and energy remains.

also like how he plays

allways

with time
with thoughts
with words and rhythms
with Names
and therefore creation.

interesting.

strange twists and turns.

strangely alive.




*************************************************

Just started this tonight
only half way through if that
but disturbingly fun so far.
Like how he holds up a mirror up to time
These tales he tells
are the same the world over
?
that which he draws from,
the roots are the same.
But what a wondrous rhythm
can't catch the beat but it's
the sound of water over
around
and through stones
Much more horrifyingly
hilariously
graphic
than stories remembered
Lyrically hypnotizing
and gut wrenching

never have heard his voice
but really like his measured speech
the rhythm
?
like breath .

so far
i am?

intrigued
though
thinking Far to much about fleas

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Dead Voices, words may exceed the restrictions of their form. These vignettes engage with and subvert the practice of reducing what a story is and can do to inactive text. If you like flash fiction and interconnected short story collections, please consider reading this. If you have grieved over the knowledge one person takes with them when they pass out of this life or out of your life, please consider reading this. If you have any time to spare, start reading this.

[Nated Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent. I'm not sure I get its 'message' if it has one? But it was great to read, lots of fun, and mystical. The main character is great.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked. Hard. I cannot tell you how much I hated it. It made "House Made of Dawn" look engaging. I swear I want to burn it.

[Cheyanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

very confusing, but interesting