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Ursula K Le Guin's mom is a boss.
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The Inland Whale: Nine Stories Retold from California Indian Legends
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Nine tales, selected and retold here by anthropologist and author Theodora Kroeber for the adult general-interest reader. The new foreword by her son, Karl Kroeber, provides context about the author's methods and describes his own personal connection to the stories themselves.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1963
This edition
- Format
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216 pages, Paperback
- Published
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December 5, 2005 by University of California Press
- ISBN
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9780520246935
- ASIN
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0520246934
- Language
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English
About the author
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Theodora Kroeber was an American writer and anthropologist, best known for her accounts of several Native Californian cultures. Born in Denver, Colorado, Kroeber grew up in the mining town of Telluride, and worked briefly as a nurse. She attended the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), for her undergraduate studies, graduating with a major in psychology in 1919, and received a master's degree from the same institution in 1920.
Married in 1920 and widowed in 1923, she began doctoral studies in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She met anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber during her studies, and married him in 1926. One of her two children with Kroeber was the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The Kroebers traveled together to many of Alfred's field sites, including an archaeological dig in Peru, where Theodora worked cataloging specimens. On their return, Alfred encouraged Theodora to continue her graduate work, but she declined, feeling she had too many responsibilities.
Kroeber began writing professionally late in her life, after her children had grown up. She published The Inland Whale, a collection of translated Native Californian narratives in 1959. Two years later she published Ishi in Two Worlds, an account of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi people of Northern California, whom Alfred Kroeber had befriended and studied between 1911 and 1916. This volume sold widely and received high praise from contemporary reviewers. Retrospective reviews were more mixed, noting Kroeber's unflinching portrayal of Californian colonization but criticizing her perspective on Ishi's treatment.
Nine years after Alfred's death in 1960, Theodora Kroeber married artist John Quinn. Kroeber published several other works in her later years, including a collaboration with her daughter Ursula and a biography of Alfred Kroeber. She served as a regent of the University of California for a year before her death in 1979. She has been described as having influenced her husband's anthropological work, and as having inspired interest in indigenous culture through Ishi in Two Worlds. A 1989 biography stated that her "great strength was as an interpreter of one culture to another".
Married in 1920 and widowed in 1923, she began doctoral studies in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She met anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber during her studies, and married him in 1926. One of her two children with Kroeber was the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The Kroebers traveled together to many of Alfred's field sites, including an archaeological dig in Peru, where Theodora worked cataloging specimens. On their return, Alfred encouraged Theodora to continue her graduate work, but she declined, feeling she had too many responsibilities.
Kroeber began writing professionally late in her life, after her children had grown up. She published The Inland Whale, a collection of translated Native Californian narratives in 1959. Two years later she published Ishi in Two Worlds, an account of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi people of Northern California, whom Alfred Kroeber had befriended and studied between 1911 and 1916. This volume sold widely and received high praise from contemporary reviewers. Retrospective reviews were more mixed, noting Kroeber's unflinching portrayal of Californian colonization but criticizing her perspective on Ishi's treatment.
Nine years after Alfred's death in 1960, Theodora Kroeber married artist John Quinn. Kroeber published several other works in her later years, including a collaboration with her daughter Ursula and a biography of Alfred Kroeber. She served as a regent of the University of California for a year before her death in 1979. She has been described as having influenced her husband's anthropological work, and as having inspired interest in indigenous culture through Ishi in Two Worlds. A 1989 biography stated that her "great strength was as an interpreter of one culture to another".
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17 reviews All reviews
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v interesting to read abt native american indian folk stories and especially to see the parallels they have with myths from other cultures
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Recommended by Susan Aylworth
(wife of MormonTimes.com columnist Roger H. Aylworth)
(wife of MormonTimes.com columnist Roger H. Aylworth)
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"Reading the Greek and Yokuts stories, who is to call whom primitive? The raw material from which are spun the the tales that live to be told and retold to children and grandchildren is usually primitive in that it is the concretization of something arising from the unconcscious: a love, a hate, a longing, a fear, a question. And if the tale is so well spun that the love is realized, the hate avenged or dispersed, the longing assuaged, the fear generalized and shared, or the question answered, then the author, the teller, and the audience, whether Yokuts or Greek or modern American, are functioning on a level not primitive nor necessarily sophisticated, but wholly human, which functioning I take to be an early aspect of art."
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This book retells nine legends of California Indians, and gives endnotes as large as the text of the legends themselves. The composers of the legends had no agriculture; however, the Yurok of lower Klamath River valley had social stratification, money in the form of seashells, and even slavery (in the first legend, the hero's low-born father offers to be his high-born mother's father's slave). My favorite is a variant of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice told by the Yokuts and Western Mono people of the San Joaquin Valley and western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. In the ancient Greek version of the story, the husband is about to recover his wife from the underworld when he looks at her and she disappears forever; in the Native American version, she disappears when he tries to have sex with her, which was really the reason he wanted to bring her back from the dead. I must say that the Native American version rings more true to me.
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If you are traveling through California and wish to educate yourself about the diversity of indigenous peoples this is the one volume you should read. The 9 included stories are curated and discussed by one of the most respected and respectful anthropologist experts, Theodora Kroeber. By reading these stories one can get a good perspective of the wide range of cultures inhabiting virtually every inch of California lands prior to the European/American invasions.
Not only that -- the stories are engaging, complex, and memorable. I rarely, these days, add a book to my permanent collection. Typically I pass my books along - but not this one. I may loan it out, but I'm keeping it, and will reread the stories often.
Not only that -- the stories are engaging, complex, and memorable. I rarely, these days, add a book to my permanent collection. Typically I pass my books along - but not this one. I may loan it out, but I'm keeping it, and will reread the stories often.
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Nice retelling of some Californian folklore with a clear and respectful voice.
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very interesting native American stories from California---some quite emotional in their understatement.
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