| Summary: |
Raven is the principal mythic figure of Indian tribes along the northwest coast of North America, and in easternmost Siberia. His form and behavior are based somewhat on the biological raven--Corvus corax, the black, raucous, hawk-sized scavenger so conspicuous around settlements in the Pacific Northwest. Prominently featured in artifacts from spoons and bowls to gigantic ceremonial totem poles, Raven is the protagonist in a cycle of folktales told among the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, and other Canadian and Alaskan tribes, and among the Siberian Koryak and Chukchi. Tales of Raven have been collected by ethnographers and folklorists since the late nineteenth century most notably by Franz Boas, but this is the first full-scale study of the tales ever published. Here, Northwest Coast raven tales, beginning with those of the Tlingit, are placed in the context of other native mythologies, including non-Indian ones.--From publisher description. |
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