Reviews for Dreams and thunder

The average rating for Dreams and thunder based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-15 00:00:00 Vincent Colucci IT'S A LONG WAY TO RENASCENCE This small collection of stories, poems, and the unique libretto of the opera written by this Native American author is extremely interesting. She stopped writing at the beginning of the 20th century to dedicate her life to militancy for the Indian cause, in fact, the resurrection of Indian culture and civilization in the USA. And we must remember that even in the early 1920s some regulations were passed by the federal government banning traditional dances, traditional music, the use of drums, etc., not to speak of the absolute banning of Indian languages from the schools in which the children were forced to attend English-only classes with all sorts of anti-Indian rules about clothing, haircuts and hairdos, the use of Indian languages, the use of any sign language, the obligation to become Christians and attend all Christian obligations every day, morning, midday, evening and night. This deculturation is present all along in this book, and in the stories collected there. Any resistance was punished severely, most of the time with corporeal punishments, and trying to escape was lethal, fatal since a child running away in rural or wild areas was bound to freeze to death in the cold or be attacked by some wild animals that had not been exterminated by the whites, or even by some whites looking for some hunting adventure. This fate is captured by those who suffer the loss of a child, or a friend, and we are thus confronted with mourning such deaths. But some of the stories and poems cover another death, another mourning, the loss of Indian culture that grandmothers still remember and, in a way, experience the loss as something absent, something they cannot remember anymore, and then they feel in a way sad because they could not prevent that loss. They don't even remember losing their memories. Then the writing of these stories in English makes it difficult to know if they are collected stories from some Indian community, and they should have been in some Indian language originally, and would then be translated, or if they are stories written directly in English based on some recollection, more or less distant recollections from the past, from the testimonies of other older people. This acculturation was forced onto Native Americans and there must be some guilt in this accepting it, accepting to write in English to reach out to the whole society. We do feel that sadness all the time, sadness, and yet not nostalgia really in the stories and poems. And yet the author finds some solace in God and we tend to understand it is the Christian God because the Indian God would not be called a king. That's Biblical language. Great Mystery to thee, Life of humanity, To thee, we cling. Grant our homeland be bright, Grant us just human right, Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our king. (1917) It is difficult to know in this humanistic discourse if she is speaking of Native Americans, or of the whole of humanity when we know what was happening in Europe at the time. I must say that for me "human right" is ambiguous because it does not seem to mean what we call "human rights" today, but just what is right for any human, hence humane, maybe just what is humanly right as opposed to any beastly attitude, like the one triumphing in Europe where Woodrow Wilson was sending American troops. The acculturation into English might keep some nuances in the meaning of words that are not what we would commonly understand or say. Meditate the following conclusion of a poem published in 1917: "… A soul in Torture Sacrificing life than behind her lost one. Greater love hath no man, love surpassing reason." The direct allusion to John's Gospel is mysterious in meaning here: "A man can have no greater love Than to lay down his life for his friends." (John, 15:13) This the end of the stories and the poems. It is very hard and painful, torture as she says, the torture of dying willfully just to compensate, save in a way, the life of a dead friend. To save his life that is lost anyway and thus the salvation is only in death and to reprieve this eternal life of your friend you have to die yourself as the normal price to pay. And yet just after these more than bleak poems we get the libretto of "The Sun Dance Opera." This opera is a revival of old Indian culture with the Sun Dance transformed into a competition between two men for the same woman. One is singing the music, along with drums, and the other is dancing. The winner is the one who will not stop first, hence the loser is the one who will stop first. The woman is in love with a man from her tribe (the dancer of the competition) but her father favors the man from outside the tribe (the singer of the competition). Though we do not have the music, since there is no recording of this opera which was produced only at the very beginning of the 20th century and produced again by the composer in the 1930s, though the premiere took place after the death of the librettist. The libretto is mostly in English with just a few phrases, or maybe one or two sentences in the Sioux language. The plot is nostalgic of some old times when love was the real stake of life. That gives some very good moments in the opera and I will only quote the SUN CALL Unison Chorus (chanting) GREAT SPIRIT HEAR OUR PRAYER In this dance to Great Sun To all who vow Give a Vision To all who vow Give Endurance O let them dance till a vision, Give a vision clear O let them dance till a vision comes Hear our prayer; Schenawv Hi May none fall in disgrace, May none fall O may none fall in disgrace, in disgrace, Courage, Endurance, endurance to our braves Hear our prayers May none fall in disgrace, in disgrace Hi yi in disgrace Courage, Endurance, endurance to our braves Hear our vows Hi yi Grant the wish of the lover, the lover, the lover Grant the wish of the lover Grant the prayer, Schenawv Hear, Oh hear us Hi. And of course, Winona, our Sioux girl, gets her lover, Ohiya, who danced the Shoshone Sweet Singer out. This revival of Indian culture is fascinating in a way and it is a shame it is not available in a way or another in full operatic production on a material medium that could reach the whole world. The revival of Amerindian cultures in the Americas is probably one of the best signs of the possible regeneration of humanity after the centuries of colonialism and imperialism suffered all over the world. We are no longer in post-colonial time. We are entering a beyond-colonial renascence. And that delivery in the 21st century will not be easy with all the white supremacists who are running in the streets. Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

Review # 2 was written on 2017-11-20 00:00:00 James Fletcher This book is a collection of transcribed and translated folktales, original poetry, and the script of the Sun Dance Opera. Overall, I liked it well enough'but there were definitely bits that didn't hold up for me. Zitkala-Ša's poetry, for example, while it gave me a peek into Native American issues and struggles of the time (and sadly, today still), left a lot to be desired on a technical level. And reading the script of an opera is super weird, to be honest. It was an unique way to get an idea of Sioux culture, though (particularly in regards to courtship rules). My favorite part was undoubtedly the folktales. I firmly believe that reading folktales is one of the best ways to get an honest understanding of a new (to you) culture; values, dreams, world views'it's all there.