Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River
This paper explores and compares the ways in which novelist and playwright Tomson Highway and visual artist and poet Neal McLeod use traditional and contemporary Cree narratives to represent personal and collective cultural experiences, both past and present. In Highway’s novel Kiss of the Fur Queen...
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ftusaskatchewan:oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/etd-09172010-121400 2023-05-15T16:15:32+02:00 Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River Adair, Robin Shawn Roy, Wendy September 2010 http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-09172010-121400 en_US eng University of Saskatchewan http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-09172010-121400 TC-SSU-09172010121400 First Nations Mythology First Nations visual art English literature text Project 2010 ftusaskatchewan 2022-01-17T11:53:12Z This paper explores and compares the ways in which novelist and playwright Tomson Highway and visual artist and poet Neal McLeod use traditional and contemporary Cree narratives to represent personal and collective cultural experiences, both past and present. In Highway’s novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, and in McLeod’s exhibition of paintings Sons of a Lost River, the mythic figure of the wîhtikow, a cannibalistic entity that symbolizes the destructive forces of colonialism and urbanization, as well as the self-abusive patterns found within the individual psyche, is used in counterpoint with the Cree trickster wîsahkecâhk, elemental spirits like the Thunderbird, and heroes such as ayash and pîkahin okosisa to express a multi-stylistic array of cultural meanings that avoid absolute interpretations. Highway and McLeod create myths that explore the oppressive as well as the redemptive processes of their cultural heritage over centuries of engagement with colonial powers and institutions. Text First Nations University of Saskatchewan: eCommons@USASK Lost River ENVELOPE(-56.673,-56.673,51.723,51.723) McLeod ENVELOPE(-127.689,-127.689,55.254,55.254) Thunderbird ENVELOPE(-128.637,-128.637,54.450,54.450) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Saskatchewan: eCommons@USASK |
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ftusaskatchewan |
language |
English |
topic |
First Nations Mythology First Nations visual art English literature |
spellingShingle |
First Nations Mythology First Nations visual art English literature Adair, Robin Shawn Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
topic_facet |
First Nations Mythology First Nations visual art English literature |
description |
This paper explores and compares the ways in which novelist and playwright Tomson Highway and visual artist and poet Neal McLeod use traditional and contemporary Cree narratives to represent personal and collective cultural experiences, both past and present. In Highway’s novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, and in McLeod’s exhibition of paintings Sons of a Lost River, the mythic figure of the wîhtikow, a cannibalistic entity that symbolizes the destructive forces of colonialism and urbanization, as well as the self-abusive patterns found within the individual psyche, is used in counterpoint with the Cree trickster wîsahkecâhk, elemental spirits like the Thunderbird, and heroes such as ayash and pîkahin okosisa to express a multi-stylistic array of cultural meanings that avoid absolute interpretations. Highway and McLeod create myths that explore the oppressive as well as the redemptive processes of their cultural heritage over centuries of engagement with colonial powers and institutions. |
author2 |
Roy, Wendy |
format |
Text |
author |
Adair, Robin Shawn |
author_facet |
Adair, Robin Shawn |
author_sort |
Adair, Robin Shawn |
title |
Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
title_short |
Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
title_full |
Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
title_fullStr |
Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and McLeod's Sons of a Lost River |
title_sort |
wîhtikow feast : digesting layers of memory and myth in highway's kiss of the fur queen and mcleod's sons of a lost river |
publisher |
University of Saskatchewan |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-09172010-121400 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-56.673,-56.673,51.723,51.723) ENVELOPE(-127.689,-127.689,55.254,55.254) ENVELOPE(-128.637,-128.637,54.450,54.450) |
geographic |
Lost River McLeod Thunderbird |
geographic_facet |
Lost River McLeod Thunderbird |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-09172010-121400 TC-SSU-09172010121400 |
_version_ |
1766001295247802368 |