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Post by mcaryf on May 10, 2006 10:25:10 GMT -6
I found an old paperback in a second hand bookshop called "Black Elk Speaks" by JG Neihardt which has a chapter on LBH. I recognised some of the quotes in it, e.g. Iron Hawk, which is used by RA Fox but Fox credits the quote to De Mallie writing about Neihardt's work rather than Neihardt himself.
Is the "Black Elk Speaks" book itself not well regarded for some reason?
Mike
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Post by crzhrs on May 10, 2006 11:53:04 GMT -6
BES is one of my all-time favorites . . . I first read it back in the mid-70s, not so much for the LBH but about Native American spirituality and religion. Black Elk's "dreams" were almost like being on an LSD trip. His life story is remarkable considering he was born at a time when the Lakota were still free and living their traditional life style and going all the way till 1948 (50?) when he died. Amazing . . . from near-stone-age to nuclear age!!!
Highly recommended
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Post by Scout on May 10, 2006 17:37:19 GMT -6
Black Ek Speaks is a classic...I understand it is on many college read lists. Neihardt himself was brilliant...wrote a number of sonnets on Crazy Horse and the plains Indians. Wote and lived for a short time in Branson, Mo. The matchup of Black Elk and Neihardt was fortuitous. I think some parts of it were 'lifted' by Berger for Little Big Man. One of the gems of American literature. I have for years wanted to do a graphic novel of it. My copy is falling a part it has been read so many times. I had a 3 record box set of Neihardt reading his stuff. It was put out by United Artists Records in the early seventies. I no longer have it and have been searching ebay for years trying to find another copy.
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Post by Scout on May 10, 2006 17:40:19 GMT -6
mcaryf...It is held in high esteem but just not considered a Custer or LBH book since only one chapter deals with the battle.
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Post by ephriam on May 10, 2006 20:50:28 GMT -6
If you enjoyed Black Elk Speaks, then you will want to find a copy of the transcripts of Neihardt's 1931 interviews. They are published by Raymond J. DeMallie in The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1984). The book includes an excellent biography of Black Elk as well as the actual words he used to describe his life, along with interviews from several close friends. Neihardt was fairly faithful to what Black Elk said, but nothing beats these original transcripts!
ephriam
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Post by mcaryf on May 11, 2006 4:37:21 GMT -6
Thanks to all for your comments.
As I mentioned in my original post, I recognised some of the quotes in it from RA Fox's book but then did not see Black Elk Speaks" in his bibliography but rather a reference to DeMallie's book so this worried me.
I must say I am most impressed with Neihardt's writing style and I am not surprised to see he was a Poet Laureate.
I suppose one might wonder how much of the beauty of the words is from the original of Black Elk or the translation of Neihardt but at the end of the day that does not really matter. Rather like reading Beowolf by Seamus Heaney the effect can be superb when the translator has a real feel for how the original material was trying to convey its meaning.
Regards
Mike
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Post by fred on May 11, 2006 6:21:30 GMT -6
Both of these are on Amazon, cheap. I'm buying them today. Great stuff, & thanks to all of you for the information.
Best wishes, Fred.
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Post by Scout on May 11, 2006 14:02:41 GMT -6
Univ. of Oklahoma press has an addition to the Black Elk book...more on his later life on the rez and his religious conversion.
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