Native American literature | Definition, Characteristics, Examples, & Facts | Britannica (original) (raw)

Also called:

Indian literature or American Indian literature

Native American literature, the traditional oral and written literatures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. These include ancient hieroglyphic and pictographic writings of Middle America as well as an extensive set of folktales, myths, and oral histories that were transmitted for centuries by storytellers and that live on in the language works of many contemporary American Indian writers. For a further discussion of the literature of the Americas produced in the period after European contact, see Latin American literature; American literature; Canadian literature; Caribbean literature.

General characteristics

Folktales have been a part of the social and cultural life of American Indian and Eskimo peoples regardless of whether they were sedentary agriculturists or nomadic hunters. As they gathered around a fire at night, Native Americans could be transported to another world through the talent of a good storyteller. The effect was derived not only from the novelty of the tale itself but also from the imaginative skill of the narrator, who often added gestures and songs and occasionally adapted a particular tale to suit a certain culture.

One adaptation frequently used by the storyteller was the repetition of incidents. The description of an incident would be repeated a specific number of times. The number of repetitions usually corresponded to the number associated with the sacred by the culture; whereas in Christian traditions, for instance, the sacred is most often counted in threes (for the Trinity), in Native American traditions the sacred is most often associated with groups of four (representing the cardinal directions and the deities associated with each) or seven (the cardinal directions and deities plus those of skyward, earthward, and centre). The hero would kill that number of monsters or that many brothers who had gone out on the same adventure. This type of repetition was very effective in oral communication, for it firmly inculcated the incident in the minds of the listeners—much in the same manner that repetition is used today in advertising. In addition, there was an aesthetic value to the rhythm gained from repetition and an even greater dramatic effect, for the listener knew that, when the right number of incidents had been told, some supernatural character would come to the aid of the hero, sometimes by singing to him. For this reason, oral literature is often difficult and boring to read. Oral literature also loses effect in transcription, because the reader, unlike the listener, is often unacquainted with the worldview, ethics, sociocultural setting, and personality traits of the people in whose culture the story was told and set.

Because the effect of the story depended so much on the narrator, there were many versions of every good tale. Each time a story was told, it varied only within the limits of the tradition established for that plot and according to the cultural background of the narrator and the listeners. While studies have been made of different versions of a tale occurring within a tribe, there is still much to be discovered, for instance, in the telling of the same tale by the same narrator under different circumstances. These gaps in the study of folktales indicate not a lack of interest but rather the difficulty in setting up suitable situations for recordings.

The terms myth and folktale in American Indian oral literature are used interchangeably, because in the Native American view the difference between the two is a matter of time rather than content. If the incidents related happened at a time when the world had not yet assumed its present form, the story may be regarded as a myth; however, even if the same characters appear in the “modern” present, it is considered a folktale. Whereas European fairy tales traditionally begin with the vague allusion “once upon a time,” the American Indian myth often starts with “before the people came” or “when Coyote was a man.” To the Eskimo, it is insignificant whether an incident occurred yesterday or 50 years ago—it is past.

American Indian mythology can be divided into three major cultural regions: North American cultures (from the Eskimos to the Indians along the Mexican border), Central and South American urban cultures, and Caribbean and South American hunting-and-gathering and farming cultures. Though each region exhibits a wide range of development, there are recurrent themes among the cultures, and within each culture the importance of mythology itself varies. In North America, for example, each tale can usually stand alone, although many stories share a cast of characters; in contrast, stories developed in the urban cultures of Central America and South America resemble the complicated mythologies of ancient Greece and are quite confusing with their many sexual liaisons, hybrid monsters, and giants. In North America many mythologies (such as “the Dreaming” of the Australian Aborigines) deal with a period in the distant past in which the world was different and people could not be distinguished from animals. These mythologies are related to the concept that all animals have souls or spirits that give them supernatural power. Because humans have subsequently been differentiated from the animals, the animals appear in visions, and in stories they help the hero out of trouble. When there are many tales involving a single character—such as Raven, Coyote, or Manabozho—the transcriptions are linked together today and called cycles (see e.g., Raven cycle). The body of American Indian folklore does not include riddles as found in African folklore, for example, nor does it include proverbs, though there are tales with morals attached.

The importance of mythology within a culture is reflected in the status of storytellers, the time assigned to this activity, and the relevance of mythology to ceremonialism. Mythology consists primarily of animal tales and stories of personal and social relationships; the actors and characters involved in these stories are also an index to the beliefs and customs of the people. For example, the Navajo ceremonials, like the chants, are based entirely on the characters and incidents in the mythology. The dancers make masks under strict ceremonial control, and, when they wear them to represent the gods, they absorb spiritual strength. The Aztec ceremonials and sacrifices are believed to placate the gods who are the heroes of the mythology.