Voices of Native American women: the life narratives of Sarah Winnemucca, Zitkala-Sa, Maria Campbell and Leslie Marmon Silko

Abstract

Diplomova prace s nazvem: ,Hlasy indiansky-ch zen: Autobiograficka vypraveni Sarah Winnemuccy, Zitkaly-Sa, Marie Campbell a Leslie Marmon Silko" se zamefuje na tfi autobiograficke prace americkych spisovatelek indianskeho puvodu a jednu kanadskou autorku patfici k miSenecke skupine Metis s cilem pokusit se zachytit nejdulezitejsi momenty ve ryvoji zanru indianske zenske autobiografie. Hlavni cast se konkretne zabrva analyzou specifickych osobnich vypraveni, ktera pfedstavuji ctyfi ruzne typy indianske autobiografie: autobiografie napsana ve spolupraci s nekym jinrm, autobiografie napsana pouze indianskou autorkou, romanove vypraveni a experimentalni autobiografie. Dale pak prace poukazuje na typicke i neobvykle rysy jednotlivych indianskych autobiografii. Dilo Sarah Winnemuccy Zivot mezi Piutes (Life among the Piutes,1883) se fadi k nejstarsim autobiografickym vypravenim napsanym indianskou autorkou za pomoci editora (v danem pfipade se jedna o editorku Mary Mann), a proto osobnost Sarah Winnemuccy otevira problematiku indianske zenske autobiografie. Krome sve spisovatelske kariery je Winnemucca pfedevsim znama jako dcera vlivneho nacelnika kmene a ryznamna politicka aktivistka, ktera vetSinu sveho zivota stravila jako tlumocnice americke armady, aby zabranila castym nedorozumenim mezi Indiany a belochy a...

The aim of this thesis is to explore the genre of Native American women autobiography by concentrating on its four significant representatives. In the opening part, the work presents the genre providing its several definitions and tracing its origins. Further, it briefly summarizes the history of autobiography with a special focus on American literature and it introduces the genre of Native American autobiography and explains its particularities. Because the work deals with Native American women, the beginning also discusses their past and present social position and their first literary VOICeS. The central part of the thesis investigates four distinct autobiographical narratives written by Native American women at different times and it surveys the main themes that dominate the genre ofNative American woman autobiography. Although all discussed books are labeled as the autobiographies, they m1x together a number of various areas and genres such as history, sociology, mythology, ethnography, political documents, and many others. Native American oral storytelling forms the fundamental base in the analyzed texts, but it is the most experimental autobiography of Leslie Marmon Silko that is wholly constructed as the process of storytelling when her stories carry formal characteristics of Indian oral tales such...