Most Popular Books by John Bierhorst

Describes the background of the myths of the Indian cultures of the North American continent, some of which have the same themes as myths of other world cultures.

In this expansive volume, John Bierhorst brings to light the gods and heroes of pre-Columbian times--and demonstrates that they are very much alive today. The book provides translations of twenty "basic myths," showing how these have influenced the artistic, literary, and political life of modern Mexico and Central America. Originally published in 1990, the text has been updated to reflect recent advances in Mesoamerican studies. In addition, a new Afterword describes how these native mythologies--since the late 1980s--have begun incorporating issues of international significance, including cultural pluralism, religious freedom, and environmentalism. Detailed maps show tribal locations and the distribution of key stories. Indian artworks illustrate the texts and samples of differing narrative styles add enrichment, as some of the world''s purest and most powerful myths are made more accessible--and more meaningful--than ever before.

More than any other continent, South America "has preserved the conditions that allow mythology to be freely produced." Dividing the continent into seven carefully mapped regions, John Bierhorst shows how South America''s principal myths can be traced from tribe to tribe and how each region has developed its own unique oral tradition. Generous samples from the stories themselves introduce the female creators of the northern Andes, the male gods of the ancient Incas, and the Brazilian tricksters Sun and Moon. Originally published in 1988, Bierhorst has updated the text to reflect the abundance of new information that has become available since the mid 80s and written a new Afterward in which he emphasizes the durability of Indian mythology. Illustrations of native artwork and chapters devoted to special topics--including the connections between myths and politics--help to provide a well-rounded overview of this fascinating and little-known lore. Detailed maps show tribal locations and the distribution of key stories and samples of differing narrative styles add enrichment, as some of the world''s purest and most powerful myths are made more accessible--and more meaningful--than ever before.

An overview of Indian music and dance which includes a discussion of their instruments, the structure of their music, and the uses of music in Indian life.

A Stanford University Press classic.

In this companion volume to History and Mythology of the Aztecs, John Bierhorst provides specialists with a transcription of the Nahuatl text, keyed to the translation, and a linguistic apparatus to help elucidate it. The glossary offers definitions for all unusual usages in the codex, as well as careful treatment of many of the commonest (and most semantically flexible) verbs, adverbs, and particles. Detailed discussions of selected features appear in the Grammatical Notes, which complete the work.

The best of the American Indian myths are works of art, blending form and content into an organic whole in which the great themes of human experience are interwoven much as they are in a memorable short story or novella. But if the underlying themes are similar, the metaphorical and narrative conventions are vastly different; and it is this aesthetic gap that critic John Bierhorst intends to bridge in this companion volume to his well-known anthology In the Trail of the Wind: American Indian Poems and Ritual Orations. Over forty cultures, including the Eskimo, the Iroquois, the Navajo, the Maya, and the Bororo, are here represented by sixty-four carefully selected myths and tales. Yet The Red Swan will be valued not so much for its scope or its quantity as for the superb quality of the stories themselves. Among the classic narratives included are "The Fight of the Quetzalcoatl" (Aztec), "The Rival Chiefs" (Kwakiutl), "The Hungry Old Woman" (Anambe), "Two Friends" (Greenland Eskimo), and "The Red Swan" (Chippewa). A number of the translations, the work of such ethnographers as Franz Boas, James Teit, and George Bird Grinnell, have been left untouched; others have been expertly revised; and some of the selections--all of which deserve to be much better known--appear in English for the first time.

In this important book, the author uses native testimony and native texts to show how ''animal masters'' and natural gardening protect the land from overuse, how living space is patterned, how human reproduction is controlled, and how the sun is viewed as the overlord of a closed energy system from which nothing may be removed without ''payment.''

Over one hundred stories showcasing the wisdom and artistry of one the world’s richest folktale traditions—the first panoramic anthology of Hispano-American folk narratives in any language. Gathered from twenty countries and combining the lore of medieval Europe, the ancient Near East, and pre-Columbian America, the stories brought together here represent a core collection of classic Latin American folktales. Among the essential characters are the quiet man''s wife who knew the Devil''s secrets, the three daughters who robbed their father''s grave, and the wife in disguise who married her own husband—not to mention the Bear''s son, the tricksters Fox and Monkey, the two compadres, and the classic rogue Pedro de Urdemalas. Featuring black-and-white illustrations throughout, this Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library edition is unprecedented in size and scope, including riddles, folk prayers, and fables never before translated into English.

The Lenape, or Delaware, are an Eastern Algonquian people who originally lived in what is now the greater New York and Philadelphia metropolitan region and have since been dispersed across North America. While the Lenape have long attracted the attention of historians, ethnographers, and linguists, their oral literature has remained unexamined, and Lenape stories have been scattered and largely unpublished. This catalog of Lenape mythology, featuring synopses of all known Lenape tales, was assembled by folklorist John Bierhorst from historical sources and from material collected by linguists and ethnographers—a difficult task in light of both the paucity of research done on Lenape mythology and the fragmentation of traditional Lenape culture over the past three centuries. Bierhorst here offers an unprecedented guide to the Lenape corpus with supporting texts. Part one of the "Guide" presents a thematic summary of the folkloric tale types and motifs found throughout the texts; part two presents a synopsis of each of the 218 Lenape narratives on record; part three lists stories of uncertain origin; and part four compares types and motifs occurring in Lenape myths with those found in myths of neighboring Algonquian and Iroquoian cultures. In the "Texts" section of the book, Bierhorst presents previously unpublished stories collected in the early twentieth century by ethnographers M. R. Harrington and Truman Michelson. Included are two versions of the Lenape trickster cycle, narratives accounting for dance origins, Lenape views of Europeans, and tales of such traditional figures as Mother Corn and the little man of the woods called Wemategunis. By gathering every available example of Lenape mythology, Bierhorst has produced a work that will long stand as a definitive reference. Perhaps more important, it restores to the land in which the Lenape once thrived a long-missing piece of its Native literary heritage.

One of the great documents of colonial Mexico, the Codex Chimalpopoca chronicles the rise of Aztec civilization and preserves the mythology on which it was based. Its two complementary texts, Annals of Cuauhtitlan and Legend of the Suns, record the pre-Cortésian history of the Valley of Mexico together with firsthand versions of that region''s myths. Of particular interest are the stories of the hero-god Quetzalcoatl, for which the Chimalpopoca is the premier source. John Bierhorst''s work is the first major scholarship on the Codex Chimalpopoca in more than forty years. His is the first edition in English and the first in any language to include the complete text of the Legend of the Suns. The precise, readable translation not only contributes to the study of Aztec history and literature but also makes the codex an indispensable reference for Aztec cultural topics, including land tenure, statecraft, the role of women, the tribute system, warfare, and human sacrifice.

Describes the background of the myths of the Indian cultures of the North American continent, some of which have the same themes as myths of other world cultures.

Coyote is featured in each of these Aztec interpretations of Aesop fables.

In this superb three-volume set, John Bierhorst offers a comprehensive survey of the mythologies of North America, South America, Central America, and Mexico. This is an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in Native American culture.

Nine tales, drawn from the Indian narratives gathered firsthand by Edward S. Curtis, include a ghost story from the Northwest coast, a trickster tale from the Plains, and stories from California, Canada, and Alaska