Four little-known horsemen of "Indian" Western literature

Today, as part of an entertaining post for the weekend, we want to make a small literary review. Thematic!

Before that, we all discussed western movies and music, and we also need to talk about time-tested literature, as it seems to us.

Especially since children's, adventure and really good books about the conquest of the New World are an inescapable topic.

tell me, do you remember many such books offhand?

I guarantee that most will call Fenimore Cooper, Mayne Reed and Jack London — we value Mayne Reed and London extremely, and we consider Cooper a classic, albeit unnecessarily boring and "corkscrew". Some sophisticated readers will remember Zane Gray, and maybe some other surname will come up if you were lucky and there were actually a lot of books in your childhood.

And so, after digging into the clan childhood memories, we have collected for today a small review of the work of three not too well-known in wide circles, but undoubtedly great writers.

In this review we will have four surnames and an overview of the most striking works, as well as the historical context of them. Our heroes of today are:

— James Willard Schultz

— James Oliver Curwood

— Anna Jurgen

— The Grey Owl (Archibald Bilaney)

James Willard Schultz

James Willard Schultz (1859-11 June 1947) was an American Indian writer. His books are dedicated to the Indian people of the Blackfeet, among whom he lived for many years. In fact, there is no artistic fiction in them.

In the USA, it is not actually published and only the most complete literary encyclopedias mention it. This is most likely due to the "too realistic" description of the conquest of Indian territories by white Americans, which does not coincide with the official interpretation of events: Schultz was wholeheartedly on the side of the indigenous population, and this could not but affect his work.

Why did this happen? And the weight is very simple — in 1878, barely twenty years old at that time, Schultz decided to settle among the Picanee Indians, who were part of the Blackfoot confederacy. Schultz lived with the Picanee Indians for more than 15 years. Having married in 1879 a tribal girl named Nataki, Schultz, who by that time had received the name Ap-i-kun, finally accepted all the interests and aspirations of the new relatives as his own. Schultz wanted to get to know the life of the Indians as much as possible. He mastered the language of the Blackfeet perfectly and spent a lot of time with the old people, listening to their stories about their former free life, writing down legends and legends.

The writer's son, Hart Merriam Schultz, for the rest of the world, bore the Indian name Na-ta-ma-i, or Lone Wolf (1882-1970) — and the child was brought up like all Indian children. Subsequently, he became a famous artist.

Until the death of his wife Ne-ta-ki in 1903, James Willard Schultz lived with the Blackfeet on their reservation in the province of Alberta in Canada. After leaving the reservation, he decided to tell the truth about the Indians, the truth that was carefully hushed up by most American writers. Schultz's heroes are not like the heroes of Fenimore Cooper, Gustav Emard or even Mayne Reed. These writers in their books usually paint Indians as either villains or some kind of fantastic heroes. Schultz's Indians are real people. No wonder he builds his stories on the memories of the Indians he knew and lived with. Schultz has studied the customs, traditions and way of thinking of the Indians for many years of his life with them. The language of his story is close to the figurative language of Indian legends.

Schultz is the author of 40 novels and novellas dedicated to Indians, works of fiction unsurpassed in their truthfulness and knowledge of Indian life. Selected works: "The Mistake of a Lonely Bison", "With the Indians in the Rocky Mountains", "Eagle Catcher", "Son of the Navajo tribe", "My Life among the Indians", "Dangerous Trail".

Selected works: "The Mistake of a Lonely Bison", "With the Indians in the Rocky Mountains", "Eagle Catcher", "Son of the Navajo tribe", "Dangerous Trail". A few covers for a snack:

Here "With the Indians in the Rocky Mountains" we especially recommend, I must say. This is a story about how two boys, trapper's sons, were carried away from home by boat while rafting on the river, and then they wintered in the Rocky Mountains with the Indians. A harsh and very, very soulful text, it should be noted.

A lot of writers— the same Cooper—have the notorious "cork helmet of the big white bwana" sticking out from behind every word. As you can understand from Schultz's biography, he never had this helmet. The writer is an anthropologist's delight, to be honest. We sincerely recommend it.

The next hero of our review is Kerwood, best known among readers for the dilogy "Kazan", about wolves. But this author is not good with wolves alone! What is remarkable about Kerwood? And if you please.

James Oliver Curwood

James Oliver Curwood (June 12, 1878 — August 13, 1927) was an American writer and conservationist, author of adventure literature.

Curwood was born in Owosso, Michigan. He dropped out of school without receiving a certificate, but was able to pass the entrance exams to the University of Michigan, after graduation he worked as a journalist and editor.

Kerwood published the first stories as a teenager, but did not receive a fee for them. In 1909, he made his first trip to Canada. Throughout the rest of his life, he traveled for a long time in Canada and Alaska, where he collected impressions for his novels. The success of his novels provided the opportunity to travel to Yukon and Alaska for a few months every year. By 1922, thanks to his works, Kerwood became a rich man and realized a childhood dream by building an 18th—century house in his hometown - Kerwood Castle.

Curwood was an avid hunter, but later became an advocate for wildlife, including he fought to shorten the hunting season, and in 1926 became a member of the Michigan Commission on Environmental Protection.

In 1927, Kerwood went to Florida. While fishing, he was bitten by a spider, which caused an allergic reaction, blood poisoning and death. Curwood was buried at Oak Hills Cemetery.

He is remembered at home. Now there is a museum in the Castle he built, where annual celebrations in honor of the writer are held.

During his short life, he wrote more than 30 novels. The most famous of them are: "Kazan", "Grizzly", "Vagabonds of the North", "Son of Kazan". His novels continue the best traditions of European-American adventure literature, in particular the works of Jack London about the North. The main characters of his novels are wild animals in the wild (wolves, dogs, bears, etc.). Several novels have been translated into Russian by Mikhail Chekhov, the brother of the writer Anton Chekhov. If you want to read about the North of the New World, about the Canadian lands, about wildlife - this is your choice. Kerwood's people are simple and courageous, nature without excessive romanticization, as it is ... but infinitely loved by the author. The level of corkscrewness is also minimal and allows you to read with great pleasure, without wincing from bias. Yes, this is the view of a white man — but a man who truly understands what he is writing about, included in the life around him. And, the truth is, besides the "Cauldron" he really has something to read!

The bibliography is very extensive, see for yourself (the list is not complete, the full one is on FantLab, here is the most famous): 1908 - Мужество капитана Плюма (The Courage of Captain Plum) 1908 - Охотники на волков (The Wolf Hunters) 1909 - The Great Lakes 1909 - Золотоискатели (The Gold Hunters) 1910 - The Danger Trail 1911 - The Honor of the Big Snows 1911 - Steele of the Royal Mounted 1912 - Северный цветок (The Flower of the North) 1913 - Isobel: A Romance of the Northern Trail 1914 - Казан (Kazan) 1915 - God's Country and the Woman 1916 - The Hunted Woman 1916 - Гризли (The Grizzly King) 1917 - Сын Казана (Baree, Son of Kazan) 1918 - The Courage of Marge O'Doone 1919 - Бродяги Севера (Nomads of the North) 1919 - The River's End 1920 - Back to God's Country 1920 - Долина безмолвных великанов (The Valley of Silent Men) 1921 - God's Country - The Trail to Happiness 1921 - Золотая петля (The Golden Snare) 1921 - Пылающий лес (The Flaming Forest) 1922 - The Country Beyond 1923 - The Alaskan 1924 - A Gentleman of Courage 1925 - Старая дорога (The Ancient Highway) 1926 - Молниеносный (Swift Lightning) 1926 - Чёрный охотник (The Black Hunter) 1928 - На равнинах Авраама (The Plains of Abraham) 1929 - The Crippled Lady of Peribonka 1930 - Green Timber 1930 - Son of the Forests 1931 - Falkner of the Inland Seas

Anna Jurgen (Muller-Tannewitz)

Anna Muller-Tannewitz, nee. Tannewitz (August 18, 1899 in Immekeppel — 1988 in Bad Urach) was a German youth writer, author of adventure novels and children's and youth literature.

Her most famous work (and the only one translated into Russian) is her debut novel for young people "Blauvogel — Wahlsohn der Irokesen (The Blue Bird is the Chosen Son of the Iroquois)", which tells the story of a nine—year—old white boy, the son of God-fearing colonists, abducted by Indians from colonists during the French-Indian War (North America, XVIII century), who grew up among them, and was brought up as an adopted son. The boy recognizes the truth of the white settlers and the truth of the Indians, but after being forcibly returned to his "white family", he can no longer return to his former world and returns to the Iroquois family. The book served as the basis for the script for the 1979 feature film "Blauvogel" by DEFA Film Studio, which was also released in the USSR under the title "Union of the Iroquois Tribe", and the 1994 ZDF series.

What about the author? Anna Tannewitz was born in the Rhineland in 1899; during her school years, the family moved to Berlin. After graduating from high school, she began studying medicine in Heidelberg, but soon left her studies. At first she worked as a librarian in the Prussian state Parliament, later — in the national education system in Berlin, was engaged in the creation of youth libraries. The writer took several trips to the United States, where, in particular, she got acquainted with the culture and history of the Indians. In 1936, she married a scientist, a specialist in the study of the history and life of North American Indians, Werner Muller (1907-1990). Later, she studied literary history, ethnology and newspaper journalism: she wanted to write "Indian stories" for young readers on scientifically-based data, which is a commendable path and causes our complete admiration.

Anna Muller began writing books for children in 1945 . Her first book, the novella "Das Indianermädchen Pocahontas" (Pocahontas) was published in 1948. She began work on her first novel already in wartime. For this novel she received in 1950 the first prize at the competition of the Ministry of Public Education of the GDR for the creation of new literature for young people. Later, more than 10 more novels were written.

Although she published The Blue Bird under the pseudonym Anna Jurgen, her other works (including most books for teenagers and youth and about teenagers and youth; mostly her characters were Indians) were published by the author under a real name. She also used the pseudonym Stein Holm — if you read in foreign languages, read it by all means.

"Georg the Blue Bird" by Anna Muller-Tannewitz, the only work available to us in Russian, is an excellent and extraordinary book.

He wrote with love for the material, great attention to detail and highlights the most unexpected aspects of human relationships. The story of the growing up of a boy who became a "white Indian" is extremely interesting.

It is especially interesting because it is based on the most historical fact: Indian tribes, whether they are Iroquois Northerners, Comanches in the south, or other tribes (their names cannot be counted!) quite freely accepted non-Indians among the "sons of the tribe".

And not only children — whites and blacks (especially in the south, yes, in Texas and Oklahoma) of various ages often became "named Indians" and not only because they were captured. Every prisoner of war for an Indian is, first of all, a servant, a worker, almost a slave. They could become part of the tribe, of course — for this, of course, it was necessary to prove that you were worthy of the name of a free man. In a sense, it was easier for children - they could have been initially trained for the role of sons of the tribe, as happened with the hero of the book.

However, adults often voluntarily adopted Indian names — an example of Schultz, or the poet, writer and national activist Gray Owl, and this is the fourth hero:

The Grey Owl (Archibald Bilaney)

Grey Owl (English Grey Owl, in the Ojibwa language Wa-Sha-Quon-Asin — The One Who Hunts At Night; real name Archibald Stansfeld Belaney; b. September 18, 1888, Hastings, UK — died April 13, 1938 — Canadian writer of English origin. The son of a drunken farmer, Archibald has been fascinated by stories about American Indians since childhood. Convinced that his British relatives did not need him too much, in 1906, the 18-year-old Bilaney left for Canada. Initially, he seemed to be going to study agriculture in Toronto, but soon went to the north of Ontario, where he lived among the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians. He married an Indian woman and began to call himself an "Indian", taking the Indian name Gray Owl. He told others that he came from the USA and that his mother was from the Apache tribe. Gray Owl was a forester and trapper hunter and lived in Ontario until the outbreak of World War I. Author of many articles, essays and several novels: autobiographical "The Men of the Last Frontier" about the initial period of his life in the woods, and three fiction: "Pilgrims of the Wasteland" ("Pilgrims of the Wild"), "The Adventures of Sajo and her beaver people" ("The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People"), "Tales of an Empty Cabin" ("Tales of an Empty Cabin"). Grey Owl also illustrated them with his own drawings. The mystery of the Owl's origin was revealed only after his death. The writer was twice married to Indian women, and he also considered himself a native Indian.

There were among the "rooted Americans" and people of the simplest fate, warriors, hunters and ordinary inhabitants of the American prairies and forests, who did not leave an artistic trace. These "adopted sons of the tribe" fought with the enemies of the new family along with others, and often struck their named relatives with ferocity and a cool temper, which, as you know, is a very difficult thing: to hit an Indian with ferocity in battle, because "native Americans" of that time are people of very simple and sometimes cruel morals, and they always knew how to fight.

Thus, the "adoptive" in the tribes often turned into more Indians than even the Indians themselves. This, by the way, is not too surprising — after all, someone for whom the new identity still seems too fresh will be more zealous about their own compliance with this identity. And this has become a habit over the years. Not born with dark smooth skin, thick black hair and a specific cut of the eyes, such a person constantly mentally reminds himself — I'm like them, I'm the same. And he tries to be the best in everything that concerns "indianness", of course.

We find this fact amazing and wonderful, to be honest.