/lit/ - Literature

>>14298910
i wasn't aware aboriginals could write.

>>14298910
There's no "Shakespeare" equivalent to Aboriginals as their history/storytelling is strictly oral tradition. And that being said, because of the various tribes, they aren't all-encompassing so various groups have different stories i.e the Algonquin are very different to the Inuit and the Haida.

that being said there's a lot of Indigenous mythos books out there. If you're looking for fiction, Joseph Boyden, Thomas King and Richard Wagamese are the heavy hitters (at least in Cdn fiction)

>>14298937
mods take this down
>>14298949
thank you very much and that is actually great insight. do you think sometimes the stories get lost and watered down during the time they are passed around through mouth?

I think its so cool thet different groups of humans have different traditions and sets of beliefs and sets of literature

>>14298910
https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Jeff_Weise/Surviving_The_Dead

> The small town of Grovers Mill sat somewhere East, nearly forgotten by all except those who lived there. It was after eleven and dark as most stormy nights are, rain hammered down on the town relentlessly accompanied by its usual acquaintances thunder and lightening. Its dull barren streets were completely void of anything living, all the shops had closed for the night and everyone was in their warm beds dreaming simple dreams.

>The shadowy figure stood on the outskirts of the towns eastern border looking from side to side making sure it was clear, the black storm poncho kept his black jumpsuit and tactical gear safe from the rain. He tilted the cap of his black battle helmet upwards so that he could see better, seeing the coast was clear he shifted his M-16 to his right hand and brought up his flashlight pointing it down the opposite direction of the road flicking it off and on twice.

>In the distance through the falling rain a pair of headlights flicked on after seeing his signal, the man put his flash light away and took the M-16 into both arms once again as the truck slowly started to drive forward. The truck came to a rustic stopped near the towns morgue, a one story tall concrete monstrosity with a freshly mowed lawn with lush green grass looking almost fake. From the passengers side another man jumped out dressed in the same manner as the signaler had been.

>The looming military figure removed his talk box from his tactical belt and pressed down the talk button, speaking a single word. Masks.

>Hearing him over the radio the driver pulled a gas mask up from the floor of the truck and quickly put it on, those on the military hummer that had escorted the transport truck slid their masks on too. The passenger from the transport truck slid on his gas mask moving towards the back of the truck, he climbed onto the bed and removed a single barrel, he set it down on the wet concrete and looked for the keypad somewhere on its top.

>He punched in a four digit code on the keypad attached to the barrel and with a loud pop the top opened releasing a plume of yellow smoke, quickly he moved to the front of the truck jumping into the passengers side.

>He picked up the CB radio, GO GO GO!, his tone was frantic and frightened.

>The transport truck quickly backed out of the morgue parking lot and sped off towards the western exit followed by its escort. Unbeknownst to the townsfolk Operation Paperclip had just begun

>Maxs tired eyes fell upon the clich maroon brick school as he stepped off the trademark yellow bus, he let out a sigh and started towards the entrance. He surrendered his black book bag to the ape like security guard named Ben and took anything metal out of his pockets, (a set of keys and a CD player), and stepped through the metal detector. It buzzed as it went off, he let out a sigh.

>I dont have anything, said Max annoyed.

>>14298956
Probably, I don't really know to be honest, as I'm a white Franco Canadien so that cultural aspect is something I'm not really familiar with, but I'm sure as any game of telephone suggests surely alterations of stories happen a lot. I do know that some stories do change based on the interactions of Aboriginals and the Europeans and the decades since.

Thomas King has a great book about the disintegration of the cultures called An Inconvenient Indian which is a really great read.

Hope this helps

There's some pretty cool oral legends in my town. Hawaiian Islanders sailing across the Pacific to Vancouver Island and battles with sea monsters and slaving expeditions and the like.

I'm sure that somewhere a great epic, or the seeds to it, is being passed down around a campfire. Not much is written down unfortunately

>>14299310
i agree there is a Illiad of sorts somewhere someone knows the story they share it ahah bit they never write it:(

>>14299359
I've always thought that BC is a great country for poets and artists, not because we have much of a literary culture, but because there is so much epic history which is not preserved.

If there was ever an epic history of BC it would have to start with King Maquinna. He made a fortune through whaling expeditions, learned several European languages (he had a habit of enslaving Europeans), and negotiated a peace treaty between the English and Spanish that effectively ended the Nootka Crisis by giving him unrestricted trading rights throughout the coast and the guarantee of protection from both Empires.

Or maybe it would start with Mikhail Tikhanov, who traveled to Russian North America and painted the then Governor of Russian America, Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, and Baranov's arch-nemesis King Katlian. He also painted several Hawaiian nobility, but went mad on the voyage home and spent the remainder of his life shut up inside his house on a disability pension, never painting again.

And who doesn't know about Louis Riel? I've never seen any writing that took his various spiritual and mystical experiences seriously though. The man has the potential to be a great saint or prophet, the spark of a new Canadian metaphysics, but his religious writings are impossible to find. Canadians are too content to simply forget, and let the past be overgrown with moss or rot away like forgotten totem poles.

Just the brief history of European contact is full of exciting diplomatic maneuvering, small battles, and great ideas. I've always thought that Canada is a microchasm of the great world struggles. The stakes and the battles that take place are small, but the characters are no less compelling than any Bonaparte or Jeanne d'Arc

>>14299544
Joesph Boyden who was mentioned earlier wrote a good novel "The Orenda" which takes place during the settler colonization around the time of Jacques Cartier. But most modern novels tend to weave the myths in a contemporary story.

Some of William T. Vollmann's Seven Dream series (Father and Crows, The Rifles and Argyll) deal well with the Europeans and Native dealings

>>14300095
Thanks for the recs, The Orenda looks interesting

the Mayan creation myth Popol Vuh is interesting to flick through, and this particular scholar goes into quite a bit of detail about the artistry, with quite different concepts of aesthetics than in western lit, rather than 'rhyming' each line in a paragraph kind of mirrors the imagery of the previous lines, like a kind of tautology. i also like how the imagery evokes both male and female in the gods
>There is not yet one person, one animal, bird, fish, crab, tree, rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, or forest. All alone the sky exists. The face of the earth has not yet appeared. Alone lies the expanse of the sea, along with the womb of all the sky.

http://www.mesoweb.com/publications/Christenson/PopolVuh.pdf

but yeah, other than this transcription, i believe it was otherwise entirely based on oral tradition

>>14300095
Keep in mind Boyden is a somewhat in unauthentic character. He is likely not first nations- and while I don't think that reflects poorly on his work, or means he shouldn't be writing it - it does mean its about as indigenous as Song of Hiawatha

I know most of the aboriginal dreamtime stories were orally transmitted, but are there any collections of them in written form? Along with any creation myths they had?

Because indegenous peoples have mainly oral traditions and because so many of their languages are endangered or extinct, there's a fair chance that we will never know what the best and most riveting tales are. If they do still exist, they are probably being told by elders who have had it passed down to them from generations in some language only like 50 people can understand.

It's pretty sad to think that there are no doubt KINO indigenous stories and sung epics in these languages with beautiful formal qualities that have been lost to the sands of time because of how obscure they are.

>>14298937
>i wasn't aware aboriginals could write.
>Mods take this down

>>14298949
>their history/storytelling is strictly oral
>thank you very much

>>14299053
>>14298910
Seconding Thomas King. Check out The Inconvenient Indian and Green Grass, Running Water

There is no aboriginal writing. Just cave paintings and oral tradition (different tribes spoke different languages also)

>>14302328
Yeah a lot of stories have been translated and put into the form of literature, just google, although a lot of the material youll find has been repurposed for school kids.

>>14298962
huh?

>>14298910
the NUTALL codex

Is there evidence of the veracity of Australian aboriginal mythology?
There is no telling how much is pure embellishment and invention after European settlement

>>14302523
But he was rude :c

>>14303137
Yeah thats what I have noticed, im an Aussie so I was read a lot of these stories when I was in Primary School.

Im just wanting to know exactly where these stories had originated/how old etc. It seems sometimes like they were just made up for the purpose of selling books in the modern era

>>14298910
In the 1800’s a prominent Navajo Elder met with a translator at Mesa Verde National Park because he knew that the only way for the stories of his people to survive was if they were recorded in English. This is the most comprehensive gathering of mythology from the largest existing tribe in the United States. It’s beautifully written and the foot notes are excellent as well, in that they provide context for many untranslated things.

>>14303351
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Weise

>>14298910
>there’s an entire Navajo collection of stories just about the Hero Twins: Monster Slayer and Born For Water
>such big dick energy that then only gestate for 8 days
>fully grown in 32 days
>their dad is the fucking sun
>Go around killing the shit out of horrible “Alien God” creatures who terrorize and murder mortals even though their mom told them not to
>Most of said monsters were born as a result of women pleasuring themselves with random objects
>Wield weapons made of lighting, snow, and stars
>slaughter Yatso the giant who’s the size of the entire continent
>kill the giant terror bird but leave its children the owl and eagle alive out of mercy
>defeat a giant killer deer with a spherical body, no eyes, and the mouth of a coyote
>there are roughly 50 creation stories in Navajo mythology about Chad Thunderspear and his brother Thad Lightningcock just fucking up degenerate monstrosities to cleanse the world

Goddamn why are the Diné so based.

>>14298937
I honestly thought abos were a different subspecies like neanderthals who somehow survived genocides/interbreeding from homo sapiens sapiens. I thought they were barely capable of communication. Racist australian shitposters duped me and now I feel very retarded

>>14299544
There is a wonderful Graphic Novel on the story of Louis Riel, but I don't know if /lit/ will tolerate such literary heresy.

>>14298910
probably something by Nezahualcoyotl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezahualcoyotl_(tlatoani)

I love the song of the mockingbird,
Bird of four hundred voices,
I love the color of jade
And the enervating scent of the flowers,
But I love most my brother, man.