From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Subject: Deer Women and Elk Men: The Lakota Narratives of Ella Deloria by Julian Rice (Native Americans/Ethnography)
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 22:07:18 GMT

DEER WOMEN AND ELK MEN:  THE LAKOTA NARRATIVES OF ELLA DELORIA by
Julian Rice.  University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM 
87131-1591.  Index, references, two appendices.  211 pp., $22.50
cloth.  0-8263-1362-0


                             REVIEW

     Ella Deloria is primarily known for her celebrated novel
"Waterlily."  She is lesser known for writings in native languages,
such as the Santee, Yankton, and Lakota dialects of the Dakota
language.  Rice has collected these writings in this first of three
volumes.
     Deloria grew up on the Standing Rock reservation among the
Hunkpapa (the people of Sitting Bull), and the primary language of
her family was Nakota.  She graduated in 1915 from Columbia
University and worked with Franz Boasz.  Her writing was initially
impeded by having to care for her younger brother and sister when
her mother died, but in 1929, she began further work with Boasz.  
     She was forced to perform original research, though, on the
wages of a research assistant.  Still, she was able to write many
book-length narratives and collections of stories in her native
language that weren't published.
     The Lakota texts were translated into English by Deloria, who
made minute annotations to try to keep the tone true to the
original language.
     In "Deer Women and Elk Men," we see the dynamics of Lakota
life in stories, autobiographies of tribal elders, and detailed
descriptions of the importance of certain facets of Lakota life. 
Deloria collected the stories in numerous interviews on tape.
     The predominant theme in this volume is sexuality, because,
Rice says, "it is an especially striking example of traditional
Lakota priorities in comparison to those of Western societies." 
More important than individual gratification was the well-being of
each person's extended family, so tribal elders advocated restraint
in sexual relationships.
     This theme is reflected in chapters on "Sexual Dangers for
Young Men: The Deer Woman", "Sexual Dangers for Young Women:
Monsters and Rivals", and "Sexual Dangers for Everyone: Adultery,
Jealousy, and Revenge."  The stories are compared to themes in the
works of Shakespeare, such as "Othello."
     Rice then turns to an examination of Deloria's writings on the
technical aspects of the Lakota language.  Especially important is
how certain emotions are explained in untranslatable subtleties
such as how certain words are a reflection of the narrator's
judgement of the activity he is describing.
     Using Deloria's "Waterlily" as an example, Rice investigates
the novel as an example of the same verbal subtleties as her
unpublished "Dakota Texts."  He finds ten parallels that can be
found in both "Waterlily" and the "Dakota Texts."  In the next
chapter, he defends his methodological procedures: "explication
supported by references to the ethnography and to narrative
conventions in the stories."  He also discusses the ethnographic
work of Dell Hymes, J.R. Walker, Dennis Tedlock, Melville Jacobs,
Barre Toelken, and Elaine Jahner.
     Rice ends the book by examining the story "Double-Face Steals
a Virgin."  The story, he says, is an excellent example of how "an
individual story lives within a mythology of convention," while at
the same time it stands as "an individual work of art."
     In the first appendix, Rice reprints several of Deloria's
stories, most notably "The Deer Woman," "The Elk Man," and "The
Lovers."  Appendix two is a short bibliography of guides to the
Lakota language.
     "Deer Women and Elk Men" is an important, although sometimes
confusing, look at the most prominent Lakota ethnographer in the
tribe's history.  This critical study is best utilized by students
of ethnography, as well as those with interests in the history of
Native American literature, religion, and culture.  It is an
excellent addition for both undergraduate and graduate classes.

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