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Authors
Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948)
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Silko’s novels are Ceremony (1977), Almanac of the Dead (1991), and Garden in the Dunes (1999). Storyteller (1981) includes prose poems and related short stories. Laguna Woman (1974), Voices Under One Sky (1994), and Rain (1996) are books of poetry. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit (1996) consists of Silko’s essays on contemporary Native American life. Lullaby, coauthored with Frank Chin, was dramatically adapted and produced in San Francisco in 1976. The Delicacy and Strength of Lace, a collection of letters between Silko and the poet James Wright, edited by Anne Wright, was published in 1985. Silko’s work also appeared in Yellow Woman (1993), edited by Melody Graulich. Leslie Marmon Silko (1980) by Per Seyersted is an introduction to her work. Four American Indian Literary Masters (1982) by Alan R. Veile is also relevant, as are Louise K. Barnett and James L. Thorson’s edited Leslie Marmon Silko (1999), Catherine Rainwater’s Dreams of Fiery Stars (1999), and Rosemary A. King’s Border Influences from the Mexican War to the Present (2001).
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and grew up in Old Laguna, a town formed several centuries ago by Pueblo tribes. Her own family is of mixed descent, with Plains Indian, Mexican, and European ancestors, and in many of her stories she explores the situation of being "neither white nor fully traditional Indian." Silko received her B.A. from the University of New Mexico and after entering law school decided instead to become a teacher and a writer. She published Laguna Women, a collection of poems, in 1974 and Ceremony, a novel about the dark side of Native American life, in 1977. Among her other works are the novel Storyteller (1981).
Questions for Discussion and Writing
Lullaby (1981) is a dark story, about the loss of children, of family, of tradition. But it is not about the loss of identity -- at least not for Ayah. The human landscape of this narrative may be familiar from the work of other Native American writers, but Ayah's way is to stand quietly and firmly against it, rather than succumb to it.
1. When Ayah wants to avoid thinking about Jimmie, she thinks about "the weaving and the way her mother had done it." In what other stories besides Lullaby have you seen art invoked or remembered as a way of resisting grief or transience? Think about Paley, Walker, and Silko together, and consider how art and craft are regarded by the characters who practice them.
2. This is another story in which alcohol looms large as a destroyer of relationships and of hope. How does Silko bring a measure of originality to the way she presents the effects of alcohol on Ayah's family and world?
3. At the opening of the story, it is snowing; at the end it is a clear night and "there was nothing between her and the stars." Why does Ayah begin to sing in this context? Describe the meaning of her song, and what it signifies at that moment, in that setting.
