In this groundbreaking work of creative nonfiction, American Book Award winner Diane Glancy juxtaposes personal essays, Cherokee myths, and imaginative sketches to explore her experiences as a Native American mixed-blood coming to terms with the fragmentary nature of her life.
The West Pole is a book about storymaking; in it, Glancy explores the ways the structure of Native American storytelling reflects and shapes her own sense of identity. Through words, she creates and re-creates herself, her world, the traditions of the Cherokee people from whom she is descended.
What is the West Pole? Something not there unless you believe it is--destinations taken on faith. "The country growing older. The century. Myself. The browning of America. Multiculturalism. . . . The instability of the economy. The End of the Trail. All of it." These are among the places she takes us by way of "storying," the Cherokee way of recording their struggle across the moving landscape of their lives.
Glancy herself has moved, circling back on her history, the history of the Cherokee people, and our history as a storied nation. Genealogy, school, Native American novels, Minnesota Public Radio, television, exercise bikes, Christmas gifts, autumn leaves, snow, a painting by Pissarro, a flight to Chicago, movies and photo albums: These are some of the occasions and objects that trigger Glancy's meditations, that become milestones on her journey.
"Glancy . . . is a refreshing voice in these times of anger-filled Native American literature. Deftly blending Indian beliefs and mythology with European Christianity she forms a more unified view of America than is expressed in the 'us vs. them' ideology of many Native writers. `I am only trying to walk in both worlds,' she explains in one of her pieces." Publishers Weekly
"In this group of essays and autobiographical pieces, poet and novelist Glancy writes about things that are familiar to her. . . . In her journal-like style, she speaks about her life as a writer with a Native American and English/German background. . . . Glancy has a gift for language. . . . this book can still be enjoyed by all readers." Vicki Leslie Toy Smith, University of Nevada, Reno
Author photo by Thomas King. Cover Design by Diane Gleba Hall.
ISBN 0-8166-2894-7, University of Minnesota Press, 1997
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