Mourning Dove, Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography

Lori Muntz (Iowa Wesleyan College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1936

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Autobiography (literary)

Resources

The third title by Mourning Dove is an example of yet another genre—autobiography. Although not published until decades after her death, Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography (1990) was constructed from her manuscript. The order of material and its construction into chapters is due to Jay Miller’s conception; nonetheless, the work offers personal stories from Mourning Dove’s life as well as commentary about her Colville-Okanogan culture and intercultural dynamics.

Two examples demonstrate this complexity of information and perspectives: how the work discusses allotment and religion. Mourning Dove explains the division between her parents in response to allotment—her mother did not want to have allotments …

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550 words

Citation: Muntz, Lori. "Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25855, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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