Bluefeather Fellini

by Max Evans

Overview

Born in New Mexico at the end of World War I, Bluefeather Fellini is half-Pueblo Indian and half-Italian. Throughout his life, Bluefeather enjoys roaming and seeking his fortunes elsewhere, but he is always drawn back to Taos, the home of his Indian mother. During times of danger, he is visited by Dancing Bear, his spirit guide, who interjects ageless humor into situations when needed. And his Aunt Tulip Everhaven usually has a brew made from sagebrush that helps Bluefeather put his troubles into perspective.

"[Max Evans is] a sage voice of the West."—The New York Times

The narrative tone changes dramatically to describe Bluefeather's participation in D-Day and the subsequent push into Germany in harrowing, unsentimental detail; these nearly surreal passages are war writing at its best. . . . a highly engaging epic."—Publishers Weekly

"A strong sense of place permeates the text; the high-desert world of northern New Mexico provides realistic and spiritual elements that add mythic quality to a leisurely-told tale with a large cast of colorful characters. This is a work of peculiar power."—Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826342607
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	06/15/2007
Pages:	686
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Max Evans, novelist, artist, scriptwriter, former cowboy, miner, and dealer in antiquities, resides in Albuquerque. He received the Owen Wister Award for lifelong contributions to the field of western literature from the Western Writers of America.

Editorial Reviews

Magic realism and grim naturalism are two of the styles successfully employed by Evans (who wrote the classic western, The Rounders ) in his picaresque tale of an archetypal American. Born in New Mexico in 1918, the half-Indian, half-Italian Bluefeather decides while still in his teens that his future lies with the earth and so becomes a prospector, although he will also spend time as a cardsharp, a soldier and a salesman. He roams across the Southwest, whose enchanting physical and spiritual terrain is captured in dreamy prose that recalls Latin American fiction: a humorous, enigmatic spirit guide named Dancing Bear intermittently appears to advise Bluefeather in times of danger, and other characters with one foot in the world beyond include Dr. Merphyn Godchuck and his aunt Tulip Everhaven, who distill a magic elixir from sagebrush leaves. The narrative tone changes dramatically to describe Bluefeather's participation in D-Day and the subsequent push into Germany in harrowing, unsentimental detail; these nearly surreal passages are war writing at its best. Bluefeather survives and endures, in the end personifying the hopefulness of a revived postwar nation. The first volume of fiction to be issued by this university press, this is a highly engaging epic. Paperback rights to Bantam. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In an episodic coming-of-age novel set largely in the American Southwest during the 1930s and 1940s, the author of The Rounders (1966. o.p.) spins the larger-than-life saga of Bluefeather Fellini, a half-Native American, half-Italian adventurer, gold miner, and spiritual dreamer. A wandering picaresque hero, young Bluefeather nonetheless returns again and again to Taos, New Mexico, homeland of his Pueblo Indian mother. A strong sense of place permeates the text; the high-desert world of northern New Mexico provides realistic and spiritual elements that add mythic quality to a leisurely told tale with a large cast of colorful characters. This is a work of peculiar power. Highly recommended for discerning readers seeking something at once traditional and different.-- James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col.

Library Journal