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E-book
Author Hoyer, Mark T. (Mark Thomas), 1959-

Title Dancing ghosts : Native American and Christian syncretism in Mary Austin's work / Mark T. Hoyer
Published Reno : University of Nevada Press, ©1998

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Description 1 online resource (xxvii, 211 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series Western literature series
Western literature series.
Contents 1. Prophets of a New West: Wovoka and Mary Austin -- 2. "To Bring the World into Divine Focus": Syncretic Prophecy in The Land of Little Rain -- 3. Weaving the Story: Northern Paiute Myth and The Basket Woman -- 4. Women Made of Words: Austin and Mourning Dove -- 5. Ritual Drama/Dramatic Ritual: Austin's "Indian Plays" -- 6. Dancing Ghosts: The Land of Little Rain as Syncretic Ritual -- Afterword: Resurrection
Summary How did an Illinois Methodist homesteader in the West come to create one of the most significant cosmological syntheses in American literature? In this study, Hoyer draws on his own knowledge of biblical religion and Native American cultures to explore Austin's creation of the "mythology of the American continent" she so valued. Austin lived in and wrote about "the land of little rain," semiarid and arid parts of California and Nevada that were home to the Northern Paiute, Shoshone, Interior Chumash, and Yokut peoples. Hoyer makes new and provocative connections between Austin and spiritual figures like Wovoka, the prophet of the Ghost Dance religion, and writers like Zitkala-sa and Mourning Dove, and he provides a particularly fine reading of Cogowea
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-206) and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
English
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Print version record
Subject Austin, Mary, 1868-1934 -- Characters -- Indians
Austin, Mary, 1868-1934 -- Religion
SUBJECT Austin, Mary, 1868-1934 fast
Subject Literature and anthropology -- California -- History
Christianity and literature -- California -- History
Indians of North America -- California -- Religion
Western stories -- History and criticism
Indians in literature.
Ghost dance.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General.
Christianity and literature
Ghost dance
Indians in literature
Indians of North America -- Religion
Literature
Literature and anthropology
Religion
Western stories
SUBJECT California -- In literature
Subject California
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 98016471
ISBN 0874173809
9780874173802