Almanac presents a darker vision, but I would argue that it is nevertheless a mediational novel, as it draws parallels between an impressive range of cultures to show that what we all share is our humanity.
Even though Ceremony attempts to reveal the “witchery” in American society by criticising the evils the Western world has imposed on indigenous peoples, the narrator, Pueblo Indian Tayo believes in all-encompassing healing. He examines the polyphonic dialogue in Silko’s Ceremony, and I relate this theory to Silko’s later novel, Almanac. My interpretation relies on James Ruppert’s theory in his work Mediation in Contemporary Native American Fiction. Mediation or cultural mediation is a term used by many Native American critics and theorists. This is a radical shift from Silko’s first novel, Ceremony, which can be considered as an example of positive mediational fiction, advocating healing as a possible result of understanding and dialogue between cultures. Laguna Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko’s second and massive novel, Almanac of the Dead, is an intricate design of a dystopian 21 st century world full of corruption, desperate and perverse characters numbed by the violence surrounding them. In this manner Silko aims to heal the divisions by making her readers witness the horrors, experience them through emotional engagement, and thereby pass the story forward. In Almanac, Silko seeks to heal this “illness”, the emotionally void and violent world of contemporary America, through the means of mediation: the novel draws parallels between cultures, but in a deeply critical, satiric tone, revelling in violence, suggesting that change may not be possible without radical measures. The wide range of characters in Silko’s novel exhibit the emotional responses to the violence, from extreme emotions to complete numbness. The violence reflects a persistent strain in American history, from indigenous cultures to the violent world of post-contact, all the way to modern America. There is a focus on violence in Silko’s novel Almanac of the Dead depictions of violence as well as violent and pathologically unfeeling characters are abundant in the novel. I will focus on the shift from the positive and harmonious tone in Pueblo Indian author Leslie Marmon Silko’s first novel, Ceremony, to the dark and dystopic vision of her second novel, Almanac of the Dead. Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead
The Electronic Journal of the Department of English
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