From the Glittering World: A Navajo Story

The story of the Native American's struggle to survive in two worlds, Native and white, goes back well before the likes of Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko and James Welch to Charles Eastman (The Soul of an Indian) and his predecessors. One of the latest to tell the story is Morris, a member of the Tobaahi clan of the Navajo Nation and a teacher at State University of New York, Buffalo. He opens with a Navajo creation story about how the Fifth World, the Glittering World, came to be. From there, Morris moves forward, blending myth, fiction and memoir to give readers stories ranging from the Navajo's tragic Long Walk in 1863 to a poignant tale of a lonely Navajo grandmother's struggle to reclaim her grandson from the world of the bilagaanaa (whites). Morris's lyrical voice, his sharp eye for detail, combined with lean prose, leads readers into the harrowing, tragic and outrageous land of the Glittering World. Here, the traditional world of Navajo clans, skinwalkers, hogans and other facets of reservation life clash with harsh urban realities encountered in places stretching from Hollywood Boulevard to a Gallup, N.M., jail cell. The stories are sprinkled throughout with Navajo words; this technique, though initially distracting, by the end serves to enhance the theme of the clash and combination of two disparate cultures. (Feb.)