/lit/ - Literature

>>17759735
Jamake Highwater is a master storyteller and one of our most visionary writers, hailed as "an eloquent bard, whose words are fire and glory" (Studs Terkel) and "a writer of exceptional vision and power" (Anais Nin). Author of more than thirty volumes of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, Highwater--considered by many to be the intellectual heir of Joseph Campbell--has long been intrigued by how our mythological legacies have served as a foundation of modern civilization. Now, in The Mythology of Transgression, he uses his remarkable narrative powers to offer a personal and extraordinarily far-ranging examination of how people who stand outside of society--by dint of their sexual orientation, physical appearance, ideas, artistic inclinations, or ethnic heritage--often achieve lasting, even profound influence upon the culture at large. Drawing from a stunningly rich variety of sources ranging from the arts and literature to biology, physics, psychology, and anthropology, Highwater looks at his own outsider status--as a gay man, an artist, and an orphaned Native American--in an attempt to explore how mythologies from ancient times to the present have shaped the ways we think about social "abnormality" and alienation. Throughout, he points to a paradox at the center of Western values--the competing notions that the outsider is at once sinful and wise, that in everyday life the transgressor is ostracized, while in our most durable folklore and religious legends, heroes must break the rules to achieve greatness.

Why I say to ignore his biography: he was a fraud. Maybe even a con artist. If an author's story is more meaningful than their thoughts, as is often how it goes whether it's conforming to or challenging the powers that be, he's not to be read. For years he passed himself off as Native American and wrote as an authority on the subject. In this book he still claims to be an orphan (he wasn't, but does that also mean he wasn't sexually molested by an older boy when he was six, as claimed here?) His birth name is Jackie Marks. He was from LA or vicinity. His parents were Eastern European Jews, the mother born here, the father emigrating from Russia. He was born in 1931 though he told people it was in 1942. An early published work, as Marks, was with Linda Eastman (Paul McCartney's future wife). Around 1970 he started telling people he was Cherokee, then Cherokee and Blacfoot. The details always remained fluid. He told people he had college degrees, including a Phd., that did not exist. I think at one point he said his adoptive family was Greek or Armenian. There are stories about a dance studio in San Francisco claiming to be non-profit and falsely offering college credits. Who knows what else. I'm actually hoping there'll be a book coming out of this though I rarely read biographies.

>>17759735
The Illiterate Digest by Will Rogers
Old Indian Legends By Zitkala-Sa
The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan
Texas Ghost Stories By tim tingle
My diary desu

>>17759735
That's a dude

>>17759735
indigenous to what?

>>17760032
The region their ancestors have lived for hundreds or thousands of years.
Like white people are indigenous to Europe, Sami to northern Scandinavia etc.

>>17759955
I doubt it.

>>17759735
Skaay was a Haida poet in the 1800s

>>17760032
you know, like owning the libs and stuff

>>17759735
I wish I had a Latin American gf

The Falling Sky, by Davi Kopenawa. It tells Yanomami myths and stories, by a shaman.

this is a very interesting thread. i too am curious about this. i guess carlos castaneda doesn't really count, but he works with some of these themes

>>17760274
thanks, i will check this out

Black Elk Speaks

>>17759735
I think Harold Bloom, or somebody, created a whole definitive list of indigenous european authors. First on the list was something called Illiad. You should check it out!

>>17760093
You’re not butters

>>17759735
Who's that cutie?

>>17759735
If you mean what I think you mean Sherman Alexie's short stories weren't bad when I read them in high school

>>17759735
The Sun, My Father (In Sami: Beaivi, áhčážan) is a work of poetry by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, a Sami author. They are indigenous to northern Scandinavia.

>>17760093
You're retarded