Dreams and Thunder: Stories, Poems, and The Sun Dance Opera

by Zitkála-Šá, P. Jane Hafen (Editor)

"Hafen has done a great service to the study of American Indian literature by collecting in one book several published and unpublished pieces. . . . A wonderful and enlightening collection." — Choice Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird) (1876–1938), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was one of the best-known and most influential Native Americans of the twentieth century. Born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, she remained true to her indigenous heritage as a student at the Boston Conservatory and a teacher at the Carlisle Indian School, as an activist in turn attacking the Carlisle School, as an artist celebrating Native stories and myths, and as an active member of the Society of American Indians in Washington DC. All these currents of Zitkala-Ša’s rich life come together in this book, which presents her previously unpublished stories, rare poems, and the libretto of  The Sun Dance Opera.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Short Stories

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Zitkála-Šá (Dakota: pronounced zitkála-ša, which translates to "Red Bird") also known by the missionary-given name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Sioux writer, editor, musician, teacher and political activist. She wrote several works chronicling her struggles in her youth as she was pulled back and forth between the influences of dominant American culture and her own Native American heritage, as well as books in English that brought traditional Native American stories to a widespread white readership for one of the first times. With William F. Hanson, Bonnin co-composed the first American Indian opera, The Sun Dance (composed in romantic style based on Ute and Sioux themes), which premiered in 1913. She founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 to lobby for the rights of Native Americans to American citizenship, and served as its president until her death in 1938.

Reviews

[Jacques Coulardeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT'S A LONG WAY TO RENASCENCE

This small collection of stories, poems, and the unique libretto of the opera written by this Native American author is extremely interesting. She stopped writing at the beginning of the 20th century to dedicate her life to militancy for the Indian cause, in fact, the resurrection of Indian culture and civilization in the USA. And we must remember that even in the early 1920s some regulations were passed by the federal government banning traditional dances, traditional music, the use of drums, etc., not to speak of the absolute banning of Indian languages from the schools in which the children were forced to attend English-only classes with all sorts of anti-Indian rules about clothing, haircuts and hairdos, the use of Indian languages, the use of any sign language, the obligation to become Christians and attend all Christian obligations every day, morning, midday, evening and night.

This deculturation is present all along in this book, and in the stories collected there. Any resistance was punished severely, most of the time with corporeal punishments, and trying to escape was lethal, fatal since a child running away in rural or wild areas was bound to freeze to death in the cold or be attacked by some wild animals that had not been exterminated by the whites, or even by some whites looking for some hunting adventure. This fate is captured by those who suffer the loss of a child, or a friend, and we are thus confronted with mourning such deaths. But some of the stories and poems cover another death, another mourning, the loss of Indian culture that grandmothers still remember and, in a way, experience the loss as something absent, something they cannot remember anymore, and then they feel in a way sad because they could not prevent that loss. They don’t even remember losing their memories.

Then the writing of these stories in English makes it difficult to know if they are collected stories from some Indian community, and they should have been in some Indian language originally, and would then be translated, or if they are stories written directly in English based on some recollection, more or less distant recollections from the past, from the testimonies of other older people. This acculturation was forced onto Native Americans and there must be some guilt in this accepting it, accepting to write in English to reach out to the whole society. We do feel that sadness all the time, sadness, and yet not nostalgia really in the stories and poems. And yet the author finds some solace in God and we tend to understand it is the Christian God because the Indian God would not be called a king. That’s Biblical language.

Great Mystery to thee,
Life of humanity,
To thee, we cling.
Grant our homeland be bright,
Grant us just human right,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king. (1917)

It is difficult to know in this humanistic discourse if she is speaking of Native Americans, or of the whole of humanity when we know what was happening in Europe at the time. I must say that for me “human right” is ambiguous because it does not seem to mean what we call “human rights” today, but just what is right for any human, hence humane, maybe just what is humanly right as opposed to any beastly attitude, like the one triumphing in Europe where Woodrow Wilson was sending American troops. The acculturation into English might keep some nuances in the meaning of words that are not what we would commonly understand or say.

Meditate the following conclusion of a poem published in 1917:

“… A soul in Torture
Sacrificing life than behind her lost one.
Greater love hath no man, love surpassing reason.”

The direct allusion to John’s Gospel is mysterious in meaning here:

“A man can have no greater love
Than to lay down his life for his friends.” (John, 15:13)

This the end of the stories and the poems. It is very hard and painful, torture as she says, the torture of dying willfully just to compensate, save in a way, the life of a dead friend. To save his life that is lost anyway and thus the salvation is only in death and to reprieve this eternal life of your friend you have to die yourself as the normal price to pay.

And yet just after these more than bleak poems we get the libretto of “The Sun Dance Opera.” This opera is a revival of old Indian culture with the Sun Dance transformed into a competition between two men for the same woman. One is singing the music, along with drums, and the other is dancing. The winner is the one who will not stop first, hence the loser is the one who will stop first. The woman is in love with a man from her tribe (the dancer of the competition) but her father favors the man from outside the tribe (the singer of the competition). Though we do not have the music, since there is no recording of this opera which was produced only at the very beginning of the 20th century and produced again by the composer in the 1930s, though the premiere took place after the death of the librettist. The libretto is mostly in English with just a few phrases, or maybe one or two sentences in the Sioux language. The plot is nostalgic of some old times when love was the real stake of life. That gives some very good moments in the opera and I will only quote the SUN CALL

Unison Chorus (chanting)
GREAT SPIRIT HEAR OUR PRAYER
In this dance to Great Sun
To all who vow Give a Vision
To all who vow Give Endurance
O let them dance till a vision, Give a vision clear
O let them dance till a vision comes
Hear our prayer; Schenawv Hi
May none fall in disgrace, May none fall
O may none fall in disgrace, in disgrace,
Courage, Endurance, endurance to our braves
Hear our prayers
May none fall in disgrace, in disgrace
Hi yi in disgrace
Courage, Endurance, endurance to our braves
Hear our vows Hi yi
Grant the wish of the lover, the lover, the lover
Grant the wish of the lover
Grant the prayer, Schenawv
Hear, Oh hear us Hi.

And of course, Winona, our Sioux girl, gets her lover, Ohiya, who danced the Shoshone Sweet Singer out. This revival of Indian culture is fascinating in a way and it is a shame it is not available in a way or another in full operatic production on a material medium that could reach the whole world. The revival of Amerindian cultures in the Americas is probably one of the best signs of the possible regeneration of humanity after the centuries of colonialism and imperialism suffered all over the world. We are no longer in post-colonial time. We are entering a beyond-colonial renascence. And that delivery in the 21st century will not be easy with all the white supremacists who are running in the streets.

Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

[Sara-Jayne Poletti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of transcribed and translated folktales, original poetry, and the script of the Sun Dance Opera. Overall, I liked it well enough—but there were definitely bits that didn’t hold up for me. Zitkala-Ša’s poetry, for example, while it gave me a peek into Native American issues and struggles of the time (and sadly, today still), left a lot to be desired on a technical level. And reading the script of an opera is super weird, to be honest. It was an unique way to get an idea of Sioux culture, though (particularly in regards to courtship rules).

My favorite part was undoubtedly the folktales. I firmly believe that reading folktales is one of the best ways to get an honest understanding of a new (to you) culture; values, dreams, world views—it’s all there.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

En voyant une vidéo circuler sur Internet sur Zitkala-Ša (nom de plume) comme étant la première femme des premières nations à écrire un opéra (en plus d'une grande implication au niveau légal pour la protection des premières nations), je n'ai pas pu m'empêcher d'aller jeter un coup d’œil à cette auteure.
Ainsi que son titre l'indique, ce recueil contient des histoires (légendes Sioux), quelques poèmes et un opéra. Il s'agit d'une édition assez "savante" en ce sens que tous les textes sont préfacés d'au moins un ou deux paragraphes en plus d'extensives notes, références, bibliographie au début ainsi qu'une petite fortune critique à la fin. Ces notes éclairent définitivement le texte et certains éléments qui pourraient ne pas être compris par un assez large lectorat (je recommande aussi donc très fort de tout lire).

Les légendes présentées dans ce livre ne sont probablement pas les légendes Sioux les plus connues rendant leur lecture unique. Le rôle du Décepteur (Trickster) dans certaines de ses légendes étonnera définitivement les gens habitués à des Trickster européens. Les légendes sont très courtes (environ 5 pages, parfois beaucoup moins) et variées (des récits d'origine à des récits magiques ainsi que des récits édifiants). Il s'agit de ma partie préférée du recueil.

Suivent les poèmes. Souvent des légendes mises en poésie (surtout prose poétique), l'éditrice nous averti que ces derniers ne sont pas nécessairement très bons et je tend à être d'accord avec cette dernière. On dirait beaucoup une imitation de la poésie romantique européenne (ça l'est), mais cette imitation n'atteint malheureusement pas sa cible. Même le récit des poèmes est beaucoup moins intéressant que les légendes précédentes.

Finalement, l'opéra, une des raisons principales de mon intérêt envers ce livre ne m'a pas vraiment déçu en ce sens que je sais que lire un opéra est probablement le pire moyen de le connaître. L'histoire est assez banale (pseudo-triangle amoureux qui finit par une fête) avec des éléments propres à la culture Sioux incluant des entractes de chants et danses et la Sun Dance finale qui ne viennent pas s'ajouter à l'opéra, mais sont vraiment joués séparément avant de revenir à l'opéra (c'est pour cela que je les qualifie d'"entracte"). Définitivement un opéra que j'irais voir toutefois.

Malgré les différents niveaux stylistiques et qualités des textes, il s'agit définitivement d'un livre qui dépasse la simple curiosité littéraire ou un livre recueillant des textes d'une certaine importance historique; il s'agit aussi d'un livre nous introduisant à l'auteure, à plusieurs fragments de sa pensée et à ses textes. Les différentes "postface" nous invite justement à aller lire plus sur elle (donc ses mémoires et les textes qui ont été écrit sur elle). J'ai bien aimé!

[Amanda Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel this woman in her writing, wonderful, I want more!

[Rachel Jackson · Rating 1 out of 5]

My knowledge of Zitkala-Ša's writing ended up being considerably different than the things she actually wrote about and were included in this compilation of her work. From what I've read about the Yankton Sioux Dakota woman before, she wrote her memoirs of her time in boarding school and her life at the time, as a teacher and musician. In Dreams and Thunder, however, she only retold bizarre traditional stories and poetry, and her somewhat strange opera adaptation of a sacred ritual, "The Sun Dance Opera." I was impressed by none of it. Zitkala-Ša's story-writing style has the same bland tone that most myths and legends do, even though her previous writing that I'd read was much more interesting. Her poems were drab—even the editor notes poetry is not her strong suit–and "The Sun Dance Opera" was unreadable to me. I guess I've learned that I don't like Native American writers writing fiction or poetry so much as I like them writing memoirs.

[Andy James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I automatically give five stars to anything containing origin stories by civilizations that have not yet been influenced by other civilizations or religions. People who attempt to explain why things are or how they came to be without having anything to start with is as pure as the human experience can be. Stories such as these are priceless to the human condition.

This book doesn’t really touch on the big “why are we here?”, but it does have stories of morality and stories that tell how buffalo ended up in the west, where rainbows come from, and how a certain race of humans are created.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

• I loved the telling of the myths. So different than any of the myths I’m used to, and yet the same in some way.
• it was cool to read a book that was so intensely local to where I actually live.
• the Sundance opera was strange and hard to understand. I would love to see it performed and see how that changes it.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essays are a narrative what work as invitation to be the fly on the wall and there is a lovely timber to the poems. An authentic "Hiawatha."

This collection is a gift.