Introduction


Leslie Marmon Silko
Leslie Marmon Silko is considered one of the great masters of Native American literature. She grew up near a Native American reservation but was never allowed to participate in the rituals of her people because of her mixed heritage. Perhaps in rebellion, she has always identified herself more strongly with her Laguna Pueblo roots than with her European ones. Though Silko has published many nonfiction works, including scathing criticisms of other writers’ work, she’s most famous for her first novel, Ceremony. Still widely read and studied in colleges across the United States today, Ceremony emphasizes the importance of reintegrating older traditions and knowledge into our lives—exactly what Silko herself has been doing since she was a young girl.

Essential Facts

  1. Silko is the daughter of famous photographer Lee Marmon.
  2. Silko’s first story, “The Man to Send Rainclouds,” won a National Endowment for the Humanities Discovery Grant. She was also awarded the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 1981.
  3. Silko’s novel Almanac of the Dead has been criticized because many of the book’s villains are homosexual.
  4. Silko has been called the first Native American woman novelist, which is a staggering thought considering that Ceremony was published in 1977.
  5. Silko grew up feeling isolated because neither white society nor the Laguno society fully accepted her. Her prominent family made the Laguna distrustful, but her skin color kept white society from embracing her. She has said, “I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna.”
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Ceremony Study Guide (eNotes)
  2. Leslie Marmon Silko - Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  3. Leslie Marmon Silko - Short Story Criticism
  4. Women's Literature from 1960 to the Present | Leslie Marmon Silko (Short Story Date 1981): Feminism in Literature

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. Almanac of the Dead Character Analysis
  2. Almanac of the Dead Review - Leslie Marmon Silko
  3. Almanac of the Dead Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  4. Almanac of the Dead Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  5. Ceremony Character Analysis
  6. Ceremony Review - Leslie Marmon Silko
  7. Ceremony Study Guide (eNotes)
  8. Ceremony Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  9. Ceremony Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  10. Dee Brown Criticism | Leslie Marmon Silko
  11. Deer Dance/For Your Return Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  12. Four Mountain Wolves Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko
  13. Laguna Woman Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  14. Leslie Marmon Silko - Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  15. Leslie Marmon Silko - Short Story Criticism
  16. Leslie Marmon Silko Biography / Profile
  17. Leslie Marmon Silko Biography / Profile
  18. Leslie Marmon Silko Biography / Profile
  19. Leslie Marmon Silko Biography / Profile
  20. Leslie Marmon Silko Biography / Profile
  21. Leslie Marmon Silko Criticism (Vol. 114)
  22. Leslie Marmon Silko Criticism (Vol. 23)
  23. Leslie Marmon Silko Storyteller Criticism
  24. Lullaby Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  25. Lullaby Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko
  26. Sherman Alexie Criticism | Leslie Marmon Silko (review Date 12 June 1995)
  27. Silko, Leslie Marmon: The Oxford Companion to American Literature
  28. Story from Bear Country Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko
  29. Storyteller Review - Leslie Marmon Silko
  30. Storyteller Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  31. Storyteller Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  32. Storyteller Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko
  33. The Man to Send Rain Clouds Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  34. The Man to Send Rainclouds Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko
  35. The Storyteller’s Escape Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  36. Women's Literature from 1960 to the Present | Leslie Marmon Silko (Short Story Date 1981): Feminism in Literature
  37. Yellow Woman Summary - Leslie Marmon Silko
  38. Yellow Woman Summary and Study Guide - Leslie Marmon Silko