Tayo, a young World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns home to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. Deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese, and further wounded by the rejection and alienation that he feels amongst his own people, he faces a fierce struggle to find inner peace. Only by immersing himself in his ancestry can he begin to truly recover. Written in richly evocative prose that weaves deftly through timelines and traditions, Ceremony tells the moving story of Tayo's journey towards healing. Lyrical, compelling and affecting, it is deeply contemporary in both its style and subject matter, exploring enduring themes of identity and recovery, trauma and time. Praised for its humane voice, the novel also raises profound questions of the relationship of society to the individual, and to individual suffering. A poetic meditation on the transformative potential of place, stories, and traditional culture.

Autorentext

Leslie Marmon Silko was born in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. As she grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, she learned the stories and culture of the Laguna people from her great-grandmother and other female relatives. After receiving her B. A. in English at the University of New Mexico, she enrolled in the University of New Mexico law school but completed only three semesters before deciding that writing and storytelling, not law, were the means by which she could best promote justice. Prior to the writing of Ceremony, she published a series of short stories, including The Man to Send Rain Clouds. She also authored a volume of poetry, Laguna Woman: Poems, for which she received the Pushcart Prize for Poetry. In 1973, Silko moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, where she wrote Ceremony. Silko has followed the critical success of Ceremony with a series of other novels, including Storyteller, Almanac for the Dead, and Gardens in the Dunes.

Klappentext

'An exceptional novel ... a cause for celebration' Washington Post

'The most accomplished Native American writer of her generation' The New York Times Book Review

Tayo, a young Second World War veteran of mixed ancestry, is coming home. But, returning to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, he finds himself scarred by his experiences as a prisoner of war, and further wounded by the rejection he finds among his own people. Only by rediscovering the traditions, stories and ceremonies of his ancestors can he start to heal, and find peace.

'Ceremony is the greatest novel in Native American literature. It is one of the greatest novels of any time and place' Sherman Alexie

Zusammenfassung

'An exceptional novel ... a cause for celebration' Washington Post

'The most accomplished Native American writer of her generation' The New York Times Book Review

Tayo, a young Second World War veteran of mixed ancestry, is coming home. But, returning to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, he finds himself scarred by his experiences as a prisoner of war, and further wounded by the rejection he finds among his own people. Only by rediscovering the traditions, stories and ceremonies of his ancestors can he start to heal, and find peace.

'Ceremony is the greatest novel in Native American literature. It is one of the greatest novels of any time and place' Sherman Alexie