Legacy of Leslie Marmon Silko

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Historical / Cultural Background

Leslie Marmon Silko was born on March 5, 1948 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Leland (Lee) Howard Marmon and Mary Virginia Leslie. She is Pueblo Laguna, Mexican and Euro-American heritage. Silko grew up near the Laguna Pueblo Indian Reservation in Southwest New Mexico. She attended both BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) schools and parochial schools. Her Native American family made sure she had an understanding of Native American traditions which included storytelling, and a deep appreciation of the land and customs of Native people from her grandmother and aunts (Hunter, 2006). Each tribe may have variations in style depending the particular tribe, however they all share common themes. The themes of the stories describe their passion to honor the earth, awareness of spiritual influences, the significance of ceremony and ritual traditions and the “the power to teach, heal and reflect” (PBS, 2004). The stories also include myth, healers and interconnect spiritual and practical issues (Hunter, 2006). They believe their storytelling tradition provides direction in life. “Many Indians believe that language is an incarnation of reality and that words themselves have the power to create” (Draper, Giroux and Lazzari, 1993, p 440).
There seems to be considerable conversation of what Native American literature should be and what some critics believe it is. This may be partly due to the many different Native American languages and tribes (Draper et al. 1993).
Silko entered the University of New Mexico in 1964 to study English and in 1966, she wrote her first short story; “The Man to Send Rain Clouds”. This first short story was published in the New Mexico Quarterly; however, she did not initiall...

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...e on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). (n.d.). Minority health and health disparities. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/diversity-health-disparities.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). (2004). Circle of Stories. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/. Silko, L. M. (1986). Ceremony. New York, New York: Penguin Books.
Skerrett, J. T. (2002). Literature, Race, and Ethnicity: Contesting American Identities. New
York, NY: Longman.
Witalec, J. (Ed.). (2004). Storyteller; Leslie Marmon Silko. Short Story Criticism, 66. p. 220-
226. Retrieved from
http://galenet.galegroup.com.www.remote.uwosh.edu/servlet/LitCrit?vrsn=1.0&dd=0&srs=ALL&locID=oshkosh&b1=KE&srchtp=b&d1=SSCX_066_0005&c=6&ste=10&stp=DateDescend&dc=tiPG&d4=0.25&n=10&docNum=FJ3596450005&b0=leslie+marmon+silko&tiPG=0

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