Codifying the Oral Traditions, Resisting the Colonial Machinery: A Study of Leslie Marmon Silko’s Storyteller

Babita Devi¹, Divyajyoti Singh², Satinder Kumar Verma³

¹Research Scholar J. C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad Haryana. Orcid Id: 10000-0002-9699-864X

²Associate Professor, J. C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad Haryana

³Assistant Professor, S.D. College Ambala Cantt. Haryana

E-mail: ¹babitakpunia@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.23

Abstract

Leslie Marmon Silko is one of the most important Native writers of America. The remarkable thing about her writings is that they never move away from tradition of her ancestors. She uses her writings to preserve and resuscitate the culture of the Natives and for that purpose, she uses the oral tradition of her people. Her writings serve both purposes: they codify the Native culture and traditions and at the same time they maintain the originality of the oral tradition. Storyteller, for instance, is one book that transcends the generic limitations posed by the Euro-American tradition. The codification of the oral tradition at the same time becomes a site for resistance to colonial policies. By codifying the oral tradition, she makes it more durable so that it is available for future generations and at the same time she exposes the reality of the colonial institutions. The book contains fiction, poetry, history, autobiography and photographs of the family. The book may seem like an interesting assortment of different genres, but it also carries an important message that it is the vitality of the culture of the Natives that has allowed them to survive against the colonial juggernaut. The paper is a study of Leslie Marmon Silko’s book Storyteller.

Keywords: Story, culture, oral tradition, whites.