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gfox3737 's review for:
Black Elk Speaks
by John G. Neihardt
I first read this three years ago for a Native American Traditions course that explained and discussed the issues surrounding the making and translating of this retold memoir. Critics are quick to point out some of these issues, something along the lines of: a good-hearted attempt by a white man to give voice to a Native American healer and ex-warrior of a time that most contemporary Americans forgot about, never learned about, or do not know much about, or consider it a non-issue. The criticisms center around Neihardt's prose writing, which comes from his daughter's shorthand of a Native American's instant translation of his fellow Black Elk's retelling of his own memoir. This criticism holds if one is looking for authenticity and Black Elk's true voice and roots, but that wasn't quite the goal of Neihardt, for good or bad. These author criticisms aside, the memoir is important for what it discloses about Black Elk and his contemporaries' lives and their distinct-from-a-Western-worldview. The history Black Elk discloses, from Custer to the Sun Dance, the Ghost Dance, and the Wounded Knee massacre, are told and described vividly with a perspective that is believable, interesting, and sombre. While it would be amazing to know exactly what Black Elk spoke of to Neihardt, Black Elk does come from a storytelling culture and something will ALWAYS be missing when one is reading a vocal account due to the reader's inability to actually HEAR it him/herself.