Spider Womans Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women by Paula Gunn Allen

Spider Womans Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women Reviews

• 
  Tamara Agha-Jaffar

  
  Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women edited with an introduction by Paula Gunn Allen, is a must read for those wishing to gain an understanding of the culture and context within which Native American women write.
  
  This slim volume is divided into three sections: The Warriors, The Casualties, The Resistance. Gunn Allen introduces each section by situating it within its cultural context. Each section includes traditional writings that have been transmitted orally for many decades, as well as contemporary examples by well-known authors like Louise Erdrich, Anna Lee Walters, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Linda Hogan.
  
  Gunn Allen’s excellent introduction to the collection provides a brief historical overview of the oppression and broken promises experienced by Native Americans. She also situates the traditional tales, some of which are biographical, and she draws connections between these tales and their contemporary counterparts. Her introductions are enlightening in that she approaches each section by clarifying terms and context, revealing nuances and subtleties in Native American writing that may not be readily apparent to all readers.
  
  Some of the traditional tales may pose a challenge for readers steeped in the Western tradition of story-telling because they do not necessarily adhere to a linear, cause and effect pattern. They weave in and out, frequently circling back on themselves, revealing biographical details about Native lives and perspectives. The contemporary writings pick up many of the same themes of traditional tales while situating them in modern society. The themes remain the same: the struggle to maintain tradition, culture, kinship, and values against the onslaught of a dominant culture that tries to subvert all things Native.
  
  A compelling collection of traditional tales and contemporary short stories, some of which are heart-wrenching.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Joy

  This book was incredible. Part of what makes it so is that the editor, Paula Gunn Allen, wrote an in-depth introduction so that the non-native reader would understand background conversations among Native writers about their own writing and to introduce cultural nuances of the stories. At the beginning of each section she wrote about the Native concept of that section's title, one of which was warrior, which does not always mean someone who goes to war. She also wrote a brief introduction to each of the short stories giving it's time and place in Native literature and what some of the cultural expectations or illustrations were. A prime example was the stories of Yellow Woman/Corn Woman and her impact on the people. Gunn Allen also created a glossary and provides notes about each writer so that the reader can follow up with other things these women have written.
  
  The stories themselves are breathtaking. Some of them are a punch in the gut as the reader is faced with the decimation of native people by the Europeans. I could barely get through Louise Erdrich's story because what happens in the story is so horrible. Some of the stories show the beauty of Native life and traditions. My favorite section was the one entitled "Warriors" because it showed women who were warriors in ways that the tribe would recognize instantly, but that non-native people would not; we might simply describe the woman as being "strong."
  
  Not enough ways to praise these powerful, painful and beautiful stories.
• 
  Eden

  This book has many stories written by Native American women.
  
  I'm half Native American and I love to read books about Native Americans and learn more about the culture. This book I had found while searching on my library's website and I was very excited to borrow and read it.
  The stories are very well-written and a few of them I really did like. All the stories were pretty good, but I actually found the whole book to be depressing.
  Reading this made me realize how much people focus on race, gender, etc and focus on what they can't do because of their race, or gender. I know history, I know what has happened to Native Americans and other races. But, if the book taught me anything, it's that race shouldn't be our main focus and we shouldn't focus on what we can't do because of our race.
  
  The book is definitely not a favorite and I don't think I'll read it again, but I think I did take something from it and learned from it.
• 
  Dorothy

  I thought more about these stories on my morning walk. My siblings and I inherited our mother's difficult and tragic childhood. These stories helped me understand our mamma better. May she and we all walk in peace with beauty all around us.
• 
  Gina

  This was sort of a mixed bag. Some of the stories were very well-written and moving, but it varied, and with the best there was some frustration at how fragmentary they were. The arrangement was interesting, where often there would be one traditional tale followed by a contemporary tale with similar themes, so you could draw some interesting comparisons that way.
  
  The most-irritating segment was by the author. I had not originally seen that, but had been wondering whether she always wrote that way, or if it was just a way of trying to convey the influence of the marijuana on the narrator's thoughts. Seeing that it is the same writer, I see from the introduction and section notes that she can write other ways, but then in those parts there is a lot of resentment that comes through. It makes sense, but I think it weakens the overall work.
  
  I don't regret reading it but I am not recommending it.
• 
  Trisha Swed

  I really enjoyed this book. Yes- it can be heart wrenching- but so is life. The stories are wonderful, and sequence of the told stories are also meaningful.
  
  This is not a book to read quickly, not a book to skip the Author’s introduction, nor the introduction to each piece. If you do- you will easily miss the point of this literature.
  
  If you are expecting a series of Native American folktales that bring you back to being a child in the US school system- this is not if. If you want to learn about the histories and contemporary struggles of a people often thought of as “history”- this can be a good place to start.
  
  Read slowly. With care and compassion.
• 
  Anna Marcet

  Aquest llibre parteix d'una idea molt clara: donar visibilitat a la dona nativa nord-americana tant com a protagonista en la literatura, com a autora i creadora.
  Paula Gunn-Allen traça una línia contínua entre la literatura oral precolonització i la literatura contemporània, sense oblidar mai el procés de pèrdua, engany, mort i confinament que ha provocat un trauma col·lectiu que encara perdura avui en dia.
  El llibre pretén demostrar que les dones natives nord-americanes no són comparables a les dones blanques en qüestions de feminisme: elles vénen de cultures on ja eren lliures i respectades, i l'opressió com a dona és indivisible a l'opressió colonialista.
  Per a complir tots els seus objectius, Paula Gunn-Allen combina històries tradicionals de diversos pobles - sempre protagonitzats per dones, evidentment - amb relats escrits per escriptores natives contemporànies. Ho acompanya tot amb un context històric general, a l'inici del llibre, i breus introduccions a cadascuna de les històries.
  El llibre m'ha agradat. Les històries estan curosament triades per a mostrar una varietat d'estils, interessos i moments històrics, a la vegada que compleixen la promesa de presentar-nos dones fortes.
  Li dono tres estrelles, i no més, per dos motius:
  - El primer i més important, ja que penso que es podria haver tingut en compte a l'hora d'elaborarel llibre, és que Paula Gunn-Allen dóna molt poca informació sobre costums, univers mitològic, percepció del món i d'altres qüestions de context que són molt necessàries per entendre la profunditat i les implicacions de les històries. Les cultures natives nord-americanes són molt desconegudes, i tenen unes particularitats que són difícils d'imaginar. Un context més precís ajudaria a entendre les històries molt millor, especialment tradicionals, on de vegades sembla que "no passa res", i en canvi tots els elements tenen, de ben segur, un significat que per a una lectora occidental és impossible de copsar.
  - El segon és que penso que el llibre ha envellit malament. El concepte de dona independent i valenta ha canviat des que es va publicar. Les històries que es presenten com a "revolucionàries" ara mateix, ja no ho són tant. On Gunn-Allen presenta dones que són exemples a seguir, jo no podia evitar veure-hi dones atrapades. El llibre m'ha deixat un profund sentiment de tristesa, no només per les barbaritats que aquests pobles i aquestes dones han hagut de passar (que també) sinó per la sensació que les possibilitats eren molt més àmplies del que les dones que protagonitzen les històries, i la mateixa Gunn-Allen, són capaces de veure.
  Potser és moment de treure una nova antologia d'escriptores natives que mostrin les seves perspectives avui en dia.
• 
  Emily Ho

  Gorgeous compilation, loved the intent focus on the female experience for an American Indian. The stories included were thoughtfully organized and I not only learned a lot, it was beautiful and wrenching and lovely. Loved it loved it loved it.
• 
  Valerie

  3.5.
• 
  Rebecca Russavage

  Beautiful
• 
  Adriana

  Native American Lit Class
• 
  Leslie D. Soule

  Great anthology of Native American warrior woman literature. :)
• 
  Margaret Sankey

  Carefully curated collection of short fiction pieces by Native American women, selected to show agency and contemporary connections to the traditional past.
• 
  Abbi Dion

  The story by E. Pauline Johnson and the introductory remarks changed my life.