Ceremony
By: Leslie Marmon Silko ; introduction by Larry McMurtry ; with a new preface by the author
Series: Penguin classics deluxe edition
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
ISBN-13: 9780143104919
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Fiction; Laguna Indians -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction
Description: "This story, set on an Indian reservation just after World War II, concerns the return home of a war-weary Navaho young man. Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremny that defeats the most virulent of afflictions-despair. "Demanding but confident and beautifully written" (Boston Globe), this is the story of a young Native American returning to his reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. Drawn to his Indian past and its traditions, his search for comfort and resolution becomes a ritual--a curative ceremony that defeats his despair."--From source other than the Library of Congress
Notes: Originally published: New York : The Viking Press, 1977. With new preface by author