Algonquian Spirit: Contemporary Translations of Algonquian Literatures of North America

Algonquian Spirit: Contemporary Translations of Algonquian Literatures of North America. Ethted by Brian Swann. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Pp xxx + 532, introduction, chapter notes and bibliographies, index. $34.95 paper) Brian Swann's Algonquian Spirit finishes a trilogy of anthologies on Native North American literatures in translation. As with his earlier volumes Coming to Light (1994) and Voices from Four thrections (2004), the intended authence is non-Native readers, and the purpose is to help those readers "appreciate fascinating inthgenous languages and wonderful inthgenous literatures" (2005: xxi). Unlike the previous works, which cover all of North America, Algonquian Spirit focuses on the language family closest to the ethtor's home and heart. Although Swann could produce anthologies on other language families, he suggests that this anthology is "in all likelihood the final volume" in his series of collections treating Native American oral literature (xix) . Swann incorporates thstinctive features into his anthologies to satisfy interest in and spark appreciation of Native literatures and languages. He prefaces each entry with an introduction, usually written by the translator or collector of the text, to provide contextual information incluthng historical background, linguistic features, details of the collecting process, and cultural clues to interpretation and understanthng. Bibliographic entries for further reathng and information about the performers, translators, and commentators also provide readers with knowledge that other anthologies, especially those from earlier in the twentieth century, omit. The result is readable, informative, enjoyable, and thought-provoking. Because Swann has invited specialists with a range of expertise to write the introductions (contributors include contemporary storytellers, graduate students, anthropologists, linguists, ethnomusicologists, and Native consultants past and present) , the scholarship varies from text to text. Swann notes in the introduction that this thversity is intentional: "Some introductions may be more technical than others, but the aim is always to demonstrate the skill and particularities of the original [text]" (2005: xx). Although the details and scholarly thsciplines vary, the introductions all have an engaged and informative tone. Some texts are presented in block paragraphs; other texts are rendered in lines following (to greater or lesser degree) ethnopoetic principles. Readers are left to their own knowledge to assess the effectiveness of the information and format of the entries. Swann provides little information about how he selected items for the anthology, though he notes his effort to include as much linguistic variety as possible and to provide historical breadth from the seventeenth through the twentyfirst centuries. The general organizing pattern is geographic, thvided into three parts, East, Central, and West. Swann's anthologies provide more cultural information than other literary anthologies in general and more than most anthologies of Native American oral literature. However, because the approach maintains a white gaze on Native practices from the thstance of textual production and consumption, the purpose of the anthology and tone of some introductions perpetuate an historical ambivalence about collecting and publishing tribal stories. …