Gathering around the fire at night and listening to folk tales has been part of the Native American culture for centuries. A good storyteller can enrapture the listeners with tales of adventure or the lives of ancestors. Some storytellers would sing or add gestures to give drama to their stories. Many adapt the tales to their own cultures. Up until a few decades ago these stories were done only orally. Now many are being written down and we can enjoy them.
Some storytellers have become writers. In this series on Native American Female authors, we have recounted the stories of authors Sarah Winnemucca, first US copyright recipient, Mourning Dove, first published novelist, and Joy Harjo, poet. This time we continue with the story of another poet – Leslie Marmon Silko. Leslie Marmon Silko is also to be thanked for retelling many stories.
Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948) Author, educator, poet
One of “Four Native American Literary Masters”. Kenneth Lincoln has called Leslie Marmon Silko one of the key figures in the Native American Renaissance which began in the 1960’s.
Leslie Marmon Silko is a well-known figure in contemporary Native American literature. Leslie was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1948 in the house where her father was born. Her parents were Leland Howard Marmon and Mary Virginia Leslie. Her ancestors on her father’s side were both Laguna and European. On her mother’s side were Plains tribes. The Laguna part of her heritage is made up of Hopi, Jemez, Zuni, and Navajo mixed with some Spanish. Leslie would include this variety of ancestors in her writings, especially as she explored the idea of not being white nor fully traditional Native American. Her works often depict the alienation of Native Americans in a white society and how their native traditions might help the indigenous people to cope with modern life.
Leslie attended Laguna Day school through fifth grade and graduated from a Catholic grade school in Albuquerque. She received her bachelor’s degree, graduating magna cum laude, from the University of New Mexico in 1969. She attended three semesters of law school then changed her focus to teaching and writing. While still in school, her short story, The Man to Send Rain Clouds (1967), published in the New Mexico Quarterly, was noticed by the literary world. She was immediately recognized as a new, exciting, and genuine voice for Native Americans. She earned a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and her work continues to be included in modern anthologies.
She Married Richard C. Chapman in 1966 and they had one son, Robert Chapman. They divorced in 1969. In 1971 she married John Silko. In 1972 they had a son, Casimir. In 1978 they moved to Tucson where she teaches at the University of Arizona.
Leslie published Laguna Woman, a collection of short stories and poems in 1974. Her novel, Ceremony (1977, 1986) garnered rave reviews. This book has been found continuously on college and university syllabi.
Ceremony is the story of a mixed-race war veteran’s struggle for sanity after returning home from WWII. The ex-soldier finds redemption in the Native American ceremony, not just in the ritual, but as a mean’s for how to conduct his life. This philosophical work established Leslie Silko as an important writer and the first Native American female novelist. It is an example of her thoughts on indigenous people living in white culture.
Other published works include:
Almanac of the Dead (1991)
Gardens in the Dunes (2000)
Storyteller (1981)
Sacred Water: Narratives and Pictures (1994)
Rain (1996)
The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir (2010)
Awards and Recognitions Include:
MacArthur Foundation Grant – 1981
Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)
Robert Kirsch Award (2020)
Boston Globe prize for non-fiction for Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright (1986)
Inclusion in the Norton Anthology of Women’s Literature for her short story, Lullaby.
Leslie Marmon Silko’s writing is important because it contributes to American literature with stories of people who have been underrepresented. We learn much about Native American culture, traditions, values, and ideas about identity thanks to Leslie who published many stories from their oral traditions.
Leslie illustrated the strong significance of her retelling of oral stories by explaining her idea of “time”. She said that the important messages in her stories are the same as they were hundreds of years ago because the Native Americans view time as “round” not as a linear string. If time is “round” it is like the ocean, then something that happened 500 years ago may be quite immediate and real.
Her award-winning story, Lullaby, traces the painful life memory of a Navajo old woman Ayah. Leslie Silko’s message is that the “old ones” were right – it is dangerous to learn the ways and language of the white man. In the story Jimmy, Danny, Ella, and Chato all speak English while Ayah does not. Her family members become separated from their Navajo culture and all meet tragedy.
The story is set during a time of injustice against Native American communities, including the Vietnam War, the Indian Adoption Project, and the rise of Native American activist groups. In the story Ayah’s son Jimmy died in the First World War; her other two children Danny and Ella were forcibly taken away by white people; her husband Chato was fired by the white rancher when he was injured in the leg and unable to work.
Ayah recounts painful memories of her life in flashbacks that alternate with the present. Set in the 1970s, the story takes place in Cebolleta, New Mexico. It explores the themes of memory, loss, and grief. In spite of these tragic events, Ayah maintains her Native American identity. She recalls the losses of her loved ones, the death of her son Jimmy in World War I, the forced removal of her children Danny and Ella by white people, and her husband Chato’s firing after an injury.
Only Ayah clings to her Navajo heritage taught to her by her mother and grandmother. She is the only character who is at peace at the end of the story. We can see Leslie Silko’s message of a better life in indigenous traditions as we contrast Jimmy’s tragic end with the soldier in Ceremony who returned home to find peace in the Native Culture.
One of the most significant things about Leslie Silko’s works is that she tries to bridge the gap between the cultures. “I see myself as a member of the global community,” Silko told Thomas Irmer for an interview in the Write Stuff. “My old folks who raised me saw themselves as citizens of the world. We see no borders. When I write I am writing to the world, not to the United States alone.”[1]
I hope you will get some of her works. They are easily obtainable online.
[1] From an article in Poetry Magazine, “Leslie Marmon Silko”, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/leslie-marmon-silko
