"That the People Might Live": A Theory of Native American Elegiac Expression

FAIN: FB-54661-10

Arnold Krupat
Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY 10708-5999)

This book project examines Native American traditional oral performances and Native American writing about grief and loss. It proposes that to a very great extent, loss both in traditional and modern Native communities was experienced not only personally but collectively--nationally or tribally--and that mourning and condolence were oriented toward revitalizing the life of the People, that the People might live.