Laughing boy

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Laughing Boy (literally: Laughing Boy ) is a 1929 published story about a love story among Navajo - Indians of the American ethnologists , anthropologists and writer Oliver La Farge (1901-1963), the long-time president of the Association on American Indian Affairs . He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1930 for the novel .

Students at an Indian school , here the Carlisle Indian Industrial School , Pennsylvania (c. 1900)

action

The novel, set around 1914 in a place called T'o Tlakai, tells the love story between a Laughing Boy and Slim Girl from the Navajo Indian tribe. The title character, Laughing Boy, tries to become an adult who is respected in his tribe. The adolescent, familiar with the ceremonies, rites and customs of his tribal culture, is already an accomplished jewelry maker and can compete well at events such as wild horse races - which he has either caught or skillfully negotiated in the market. The very first sentence of the novel makes his preferences clear: he rode the hundred miles from T'o Tlakai to Tse Lani to take part in a dance, or rather, for the horse races that would come afterwards.

At a tribal meeting, Laughing Boy meets the beautiful, mysterious young woman named Slim Girl. The focus of the novel is on the tragic entanglement of the young Indian woman who has become homeless between two cultures. The complications arise directly from her previous experience in the Indian schools . These Indian schools are boarding schools that were under the auspices of the federal government for the education and assimilation of Native Americans. Indian children from numerous tribes were sent to these schools. They were generally forced to abandon their traditional way of life in favor of European-American culture. Only in 1924, in the Indian Citizenship Act ( english : Indian Citizenship Act ) was the American Indians the full citizenship of the United States have been awarded.

With its fictional story, La Farge offers a rare insight into the real lifestyle and the territory of the Navajo, while telling the story without a direct accusation of the civilization of the whites, but also without a romanticization of the Indians. In his introductory note he makes it clear:

“This story is meant neither to instruct nor to prove a point, but to amuse. It is not propaganda, nor an indication of anything. The hostility with which certain of the characters in it view Americans and the American system is theirs, arising from the plot, and not the author's. The picture is frankly one-sided. It is also entirely possible. / dt. This story should neither teach nor prove, but amuse. It is not propaganda or an indictment of anything. The hostility with which certain individuals view Americans and the American system in it is theirs, arising from the plot, and not that of the author. The picture is frankly one-sided. It is also entirely possible. "

Awards

For this Indian love story, La Farge received the Pulitzer Prize in 1930 .

filming

In 1934, Laughing Boy was filmed under the same title, directed by WS Van Dyke, with Ramón Novarro in the role of Laughing Boy and Lupe Vélez as Slim Girl.

censorship

The book was removed from high school library shelves by the school board of the Island Trees Union Free School District in New York. That was in 1982 the subject of a case of the Supreme Court of the United States .

translation

The text was translated into German by the poet and narrator Luise gen. Lulu von Strauss and Torney (1873–1956), the wife and editor of the publisher Eugen Diederichs (1867–1930).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Introductory note , New Orleans, 1920
  2. ↑ imdb.com
  3. ↑ Island Trees Sch. Dist. v. Pico by Pico 457 US 853 (1982) . Retrieved August 10, 2018.

literature

translation

  • Laughing Boy (1929): Native American love story. Roman , Beltz and Gelberg, Weinheim 1995, ISBN 3-407-78705-7
    • previous title: The Great Night Song. An Indian story , Diederichs, Jena 1933

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