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kaylagoggin 's review for:
I found parts of this to be very moving and I'm glad I read it because holy shit - what a life!
HOWEVER. I wish I had been aware of the uhhhhhh *artistic liberties* Neihardt took with some of Black Elk's words before I began. I think it's pretty well known now that Neihardt selectively removed details from Black Elk's original telling and finessed other details to suit the book's narrative, which is centered around Black Elk's spiritual awakening and his attempts via religious ritual to save the Oglala people from destruction in the final decades of the 19th century. The book also stops with the massacre at Wounded Knee, ignoring the last 60 years of Black Elk's life. Neihardt was clearly more interested in portraying Black Elk as a poetic, mystical figure rather than in actually parsing the details of his long, complicated life.
I'm definitely going to read "The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt" at some point next year, which contains the full transcripts of Neihardt's interviews with Black Elk and provides a lot more context for his visions and the culture he describes.
HOWEVER. I wish I had been aware of the uhhhhhh *artistic liberties* Neihardt took with some of Black Elk's words before I began. I think it's pretty well known now that Neihardt selectively removed details from Black Elk's original telling and finessed other details to suit the book's narrative, which is centered around Black Elk's spiritual awakening and his attempts via religious ritual to save the Oglala people from destruction in the final decades of the 19th century. The book also stops with the massacre at Wounded Knee, ignoring the last 60 years of Black Elk's life. Neihardt was clearly more interested in portraying Black Elk as a poetic, mystical figure rather than in actually parsing the details of his long, complicated life.
I'm definitely going to read "The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt" at some point next year, which contains the full transcripts of Neihardt's interviews with Black Elk and provides a lot more context for his visions and the culture he describes.