Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Before it was written, this book was spoken. For ten winter days in 1977, the orator Paul John -- widely respected as a dean of Yup'ik elders and recognized for his tireless advocacy of Yup'ik language and traditions -- held an audience of Yup'ik students rapt at Nelson Island High School in southwest Alaska. Hour after hour he spoke to the young people, sharing life experiences and Yup'ik narratives, never repeating a tale. Now, more than a quarter-century after Paul John's extraordinary performance, Sophie Shield's translations and Ann Fienup-Riordan's editing have brought his words back to life, and to a new audience. This book records one elder's attempt to create a moral universe for future generations through stories about the special knowledge of the Yup'ik people. Tales both authentically Yup'ik and marked by Paul John's own unique innovations are presented in a bilingual edition, with Yup'ik and English text presented on facing pages. As Paul John says, "In this whole world, whoever we are, if people speak using their own language, they will be presenting their identity and it will be their strength."Synopsis
For ten days in 1977 Paul John, then 48 years old, spoke to Yup'ik students at Nelson Island High School about their present and future; about his own experiences and those of his father and grandfather, who had lived in the pre-missionary days of the shamans; about relationships between humans and animals; and about other themes of traditional tales he had heard growing up. Translator and educator Shield and anthropologist Fienup-Riordan present the stories in the original with facing pages of English translation. They provide notes and a bibliography, but no index. The cover calls him Yup'ik Eskimo elder; the title page calls him Yup'ik elder; and the CiP is content with Paul John. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR