The Search for Origins through Storytelling in Native American Literature

Momaday, Silko, Erdrich

Abstract

Native American literature reveals a continuity with the tradition of storytelling which forms the core of Native American culture. In their storytelling, the three writers discussed in this essay search for their cultural and historical identity and grapple with the tensions inherent in being mixed-blood. In so doing, they affirm and " make new" the everlasting value of their ancestral past.