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THE WINNEBAGO NARRATIVES OF FELIX WHITE, SR.: STYLE, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION (NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS)
Abstract
In the years since Paul Radin collected and published Winnebago narratives concerning the Trickster and other figures, there has been little additional study made of the rich oral literature of this North American tribe. Only a small number of the tribal members now living on the Winnebago Reservation in northeastern Nebraska can still speak Hoocagra, the native language of the Winnebago people, and only a handful of the remaining speakers can narrate the traditional waika or sacred stories concerning the Trickster or Foolish One and other supernatural beings created by the Winnebago Earthmaker. It is, therefore, fortunate that as a young boy during the period of the First World War, Felix White Sr. had the opportunity to observe and learn from the performances of accomplished storytellers whose narratives were given in the traditional oral style developed and passed down through generations of Winnebago narrators. Today his storytelling still exemplifies the qualities of traditional Winnebago oral literature: adherence to an unchanging core configuration of characters, settings, and situations which are narrated as dramatic scenes based structurally on the number four; use of traditional oral and visual stylistic techniques to enhance performance; and individ- ual shaping and development of stories in response to audience and circumstance. The present volume consists of Hoocagra transcriptions and English translations, both literal and free, of six waika and an oral introduction narrated by White in 1981 and 1983. These narratives are presented in the form of dramatic verse in order to give a better sense of the style and poetic qualities of the original oral perform- ance than prose translation would allow. Aspects of the style and inherent structure of White's narratives are discussed in a sixty page introduction to his stories, which also includes background information about White, a presentation of his analysis of the function of these stories in Winnebago society, and information concerning the transcriptions and translations.
Subject Area
Literature|American literature|Biographies
Recommended Citation
DANKER, KATHLEEN ANN, "THE WINNEBAGO NARRATIVES OF FELIX WHITE, SR.: STYLE, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION (NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS)" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8521450.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8521450