Spider Woman Stories: Legends of the Hopi Indians

by G.M. Mullett

"This is a fine introduction to Hopi mythology and values. It recreates an authentic poetic spirit and makes the reader eager to read more Hopi tales." — New Mexico Humanities Review

Genres: Fiction, Native American, Mythology, Indigenous, Short Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hopi legends and stories are wonderful, the retelling leaves a lot to be desired. G.M. Mullett decided to rewrite Hopi history and myth in a "poetic prose" style, and she kind of ruined them. Honestly, the best way to describe it is that she ran these stories through a Biblical or 19th century novel word wash, there is a LOT of "heretofore" and "therefore" and "thus we see" language in here, and vocabulary and phrasing that is certainly not Native American ("orifice" and "bated breath" and almost all of the young, marriagable women are described with tiny feet...which isn't really a beauty trait valued by most Native American cultures, but certainly was valued by Victorian and Edwardian white American culture), all this stuff serves to clutter up the beautiful Hopi imagery. Also, "war bonnets" are talked about A LOT and--yes I looked it up--feathered headdresses are really only part of a few tribes of Plains Indians ceremonial dress, and the Hopi lived in dry, arid, northern Arizona. *Maybe* a few of the myths had men wearing feathered headdresses, buuuuut, prolly not. Regardless, that doesn't make it ok to use that imagery as shorthand for white readers to immediately picture a stereotypical "Indian." And that's the basis of my problem with this "retelling" / "translation" of Hopi legend and myth. It's whitewashed and doesn't seem authentic to the actual Hopi culture. (I am not Hopi, so I am wide open to being corrected here, but this was my gut feeling after reading this book.)

G.M. Mullett wrote these down in the 1920's and 1930's after a lot of interviews and making notes about handed-down oral histories of the Hopi. The best I can tell it seems she was sure this "poetic prose-y" type of "translation" would make the stories much more accessible to white audiences who would come to love and appreciate the Native American cultures as she did. But, in my opinion, she fails there. 1 star for the writing, but I'm rating it 3 stars because of the beautiful stories that are buried in this pile of words.

[Toria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those semi-anthropological books that leaves me with some mixed feelings. Hopi stories are awesome, and it's great to have a window into them through a book like this, with the understanding that they are not in their original form or context. So, I enjoyed it for that, with caveats.

The writing struggles to find the balance between communication and authenticity, such that the stiltedness seems like it's overcompensating for something. I wish the author had instead given us their first-hand experience hearing these stories, including how they understood them through their own lens, rather than attempting and failing to capture a definitive telling based on non-Hopi expectations of written legends.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable read. Recommended to anyone who likes myths or Native American stories. Beautifully written so it reads much like listening to a good story teller. To paraphrase the stories, this book is very something. I might have to see if the author has written other books.

[Risa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spider Woman Stories by G. M. Mullett (1979)