![]() That realm is represented in Silko’s stories as “Time Immemorial.” But Time Immemorial is not “a long time ago,” or “far far away.” It is here and now. In Laguna culture, a story being told is a conduit to the spirit realm. Silko published Ceremony in 1977 and it is best known as a vanguard work of the Native American Renaissance. ![]() But most importantly, this is a pivotal work of Native-American literature. ![]() Ceremony is also a really important book in American literature, and teaches us a lot about interstitial identities in American culture her protagonist, Tayo, is a mixed-race Native and white man who feels ostracized from both sides of his identity. ![]() It is an important book to me: so important that I included a chapter about it in my dissertation, and I’m refining that work for a book project. I continually return to it, or rather it draws me back. When I first read it almost a decade ago, the book hit me like a lightning bolt to the forehead, and it stayed with me. ![]() Ceremony may be an apt example of Postmodern innovation, but it also stands out to me as a masterpiece by an artist who is attuned to the invisible dimensions of reality, and I think Silko’s formal developments are designed to reflect this extraordinary perception. ![]()
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