A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World

This study treats the oral literature of the Haida of Haida Gwaii as classical art rather than as anonymous folklore. Bringhurst concentrates on two mythtellers recorded in 1900-1901 by the ethnographer John Swanton: Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay and Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas. He analyses the structure, imagery, and performance of their narratives-including Skaay's long Raven cycle-and reconstructs the social world in which such stories were composed and heard. Translations and commentary sit beside discussion of how dictated Haida became a written text. The argument is that these speakers worked as poets and historians within a high oral tradition.

Bound in light brown cloth, blocked with a black and orange design by Don Yeomans.