"The Men in the Bar Feared Her": The Power of Ayah in Leslie Marmon Silko’s "Lullaby"

Authors

Patrice E.M. Hollrah, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2003

Publication Title

Studies in American Indian Literatures

Volume

15

Issue

2

First page number:

1

Last page number:

38

Abstract

Leslie Marmon Silko, who is of Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and white ancestry, states her political agenda: "I feel it is more effective to write a story like "Lullaby" than to rant and rave. I think it is more effective in reaching people" (Seyersted, Two Interviews 24), In the short story "Lullaby," which is "among the most often reprinted stories in American Indian literature," Silko draws on Navajo (Dine) characters (Graulich 19). First published in 1974 in both Chicago Review and Yardbird Reader, "Lullaby" was later selected by Martha Foley as one of twenty works for The Best American Short Stories of 1975. Silko then included it in Storyteller (1981). Writing outside of her own Laguna Pueblo tradition in "Lullaby" presents the challenge to the reader of having to be aware of not only Silko's tribal heritage but also that of the Navajo.

Keywords

American literature--Indian authors; Indians of North America

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature | Indigenous Studies | Literature in English, North America | Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Hollrah, P. E. (2003). "The Men in the Bar Feared Her": The Power of Ayah in Leslie Marmon Silko’s "Lullaby". Studies in American Indian Literatures, 15(2), 1-38.