The Oral Literature of the Guarasug'we: An extinct horticultural people of eastern Bolivia (in English)
Synopsis "The Oral Literature of the Guarasug'we: An extinct horticultural people of eastern Bolivia (in English)"
As the title suggests, this book is a presentation of the traditional oral literature of the Guarasug'we. These stories were collected and written down from original narrations. The subtext of this book is an experiment. The experiment involves the application of a hypothetical poetic form. It assumes that the form of the narration that is presented in the original text was a distortion of the original narrative style. In this book, the stories are presented in a simple blank verse to see if that will facilitate the grasp of their true meaning. I first came across these stories as a Peace Corps volunteer working in eastern Bolivia. I found these stories to be extraordinary in their meaning and structure. Although they were written in Spanish, I found them easy to translate. This book is an adult book, for I did not eliminate references to sex or sexuality that were in my source materials. Although this book is written on a linguistic anthropological scheme, and it is a direct application of the subject matter of my master's thesis. I don't feel that the book is obscure or inaccessible. I think that most educated people will be able to understand and be enlightened by it as to the true nature of primitive society. This book differs significantly from the majority of books on native oral literature. First this book has an extensive anthropological introduction. This introduction will help the reader relate these stories to their geographical, social, and historical matrix. Second, unlike other collections of Native American literature, this book is entirely focused upon a single tribe, and it is not a collection or an anthology of the oral narratives of one geographical area. Moreover, this book does not make generalizations about mythology or make an analysis of mythology. Lastly, this book is unique in that the native informants are carefully listed, and the dates of the transcriptions carefully presented. Not all native informants are equal, and some of them are more talented than others. And one of the reasons that this collection of stories is worth special attention is the talent of the primary native narrator, a man named Tesere, This man is building a memorial to his dying culture. These stories are important in two more ways. One, they are a beautiful way to gain insight into a tropical South American culture. And secondly, they are evidence of the need to respect and preserve cultural diversity.
