Waterlily / Edition 2

by Ella Cara Deloria, Susan Gardner, Raymond J. DeMallie

Overview

When Blue Bird and her grandmother leave their family’s camp to gather beans for the long, threatening winter, they inadvertently avoid the horrible fate that befalls the rest of the family. Luckily, the two women are adopted by a nearby Dakota community and are eventually integrated into their kinship circles. Ella Cara Deloria’s tale follows Blue Bird and her daughter, Waterlily, through the intricate kinship practices that created unity among her people.  
Waterlily, published after Deloria’s death and generally viewed as the masterpiece of her career, offers a captivating glimpse into the daily life of the nineteenth-century Sioux. This new Bison Books edition features an introduction by Susan Gardner and an index.  
Purchase the audio edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803219045
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	04/01/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	640,509
Product dimensions:	8.48(w) x 5.32(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	990L (what's this?)

About the Author

Ella Cara Deloria (1889–1971) was born on the Yankton reservation in South Dakota and grew up in a prominent family on the Standing Rock reservation during a disruptive time in her tribe’s history. She studied at Columbia University with Franz Boas and became an ethnologist. She is the author of Dakota Texts and Speaking of Indians, both available in Bison Books editions, Dakota Grammar, and many other works. Susan Gardner is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and is the author of several articles and a forthcoming biography on Ella Deloria.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Publisher's Preface
Waterlily
Biographical Sketch of the Author
Afterword
Index

Editorial Reviews

“No one is better qualified than Deloria to draw together a series of Sioux female characters such as the ones central to this novel. . . . Deloria was bilingual as well as bicultural. Through her work we see the value of the insider’s perspective as a bridge of understanding for those outside the culture.”—Ines Talamantez, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

"Deloria tells universal truths cast in an authentic framework of early nineteenth-century Plains Indian society. . . . The feminine point of view is genius."—Journal of the West

Journal of the West

“Waterlily is by one who knows the culture from within, and in its instruction about Dakota ethnography the book strikes me . . . as wonderfully fine. Day to day life of the traditional Dakota is rendered in sympathetic detail.”—Arnold Krupat, The Nation

— Arnold Krupat

Nation

“[Deloria’s] novel is a distinguished work of literature at the same time that it is an important exercise in historical reconstruction, based on her wide and deep study of Dakota texts.”—World Literature Today

World Literature Today

“Waterlily is by one who knows the culture from within, and in its instruction about Dakota ethnography the book strikes me . . . as wonderfully fine. Day to day life of the traditional Dakota is rendered in sympathetic detail.”—Arnold Krupat, The Nation

Nation - Arnold Krupat

“No one is better qualified than Deloria to draw together a series of Sioux female characters such as the ones central to this novel. . . . Deloria was bilingual as well as bicultural. Through her work we see the value of the insider’s perspective as a bridge of understanding for those outside the culture.”—Ines Talamantez, Los Angeles Times

|Los Angeles Times

Deloria was a Sioux Indian and an ethnologist who worked with anthropologist Franz Boas. Written in the early 1940s and now published for the first time, this culturally detailed novel of 19th century Sioux life focuses on a young girl named Waterlily. When her mother Blue Bird is deserted by her husband, she and her daughter are welcomed by relatives at their tiyospaye (encampment of related households) on the western plains. Deloria portrays Waterlily's maturation, daily tribal life and the crucial ``kinship rules.'' As the author wrote elsewhere, the Sioux concept of kinship meant ``achieving civility, good manners, and a sense of responsibility toward every individual dealt with.'' Waterlily learns she must show altruism and generosity, be courteous, demure and truthful, and highly value each family member. While this novel's plot is slight, Deloria clearly accomplished what was probably her true goalpresenting an authoritative, expertly researched account of Sioux beliefs, social conventions and ceremonies. As such, it is an absorbing document. Literary Guild alternate. (April)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

$19.95. f ``I have a mission: To make the Dakota people understandable, as human beings, to the white people who have to deal with them.'' That commitment, strengthened by more than 20 years of research with Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, inspired Yankton Sioux ethnologist Deloria to write this novel, completed in 1944 but published only now. Set in Sioux country in the 19th century and beginning with a dramatic birth, it portrays intricate kinship rituals and the compelling minutiae of daily life. A richly female perspective balances traditional male values expressed in warfare and hunting. Intended as popular literature, the novel is an amalgam of meticulous research and enduring intimacies available only to outsiders. A captivating narrative, recommended for general as well as subject collections. Rhoda Carroll, Vermont Coll., Montpelier

Library Journal

An English-language edition of the German book Wasserturme. The translator had only introductory text to work; the book comprises 224 photographs by an internationally known pair of German industrial landscape photographers. Their work is deliberately unglamorous, departing from the usual style of architectural photography. The Bechers' photos are widely collected in the US, but this is the first time their work has been published here. Photographs were taken over a period of 25 years. A reprint of the University of Nebraska Press edition of 1988. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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