Books
Hanta Yo
By Ruth Beebe Hill
© 1979 Doubleday
$14.95 hardback
Every now and then a truly fine
novel by some unknown author
sneaks onto the bestseller list
along with all the bigtime novels
by all the bigtime authors. Just
such a truly fine novel is Hanta Yo
by Ruth Beebe Hill.
It tells the story of a band of
Dakotah Sioux from 1794 to 1835,
a period before encroaching trad
ers, missionaries and settlers in
fluenced and eventuall destroyed
the plains Indian culture. The
novel has a factual basis. A
Dakotah Sioux named Hehaka
recorded the history of his people
in pictures on a tanned hide. Be
f
ginning with this scanty record,
Hill has reconstructed an entire
way of life.
She follows two men, Ahbleza
and Tonweya, and their families
as they mature and assume posi
tions of responsibility within the
tribe. Ahbleza becomes a warrior
and eventually a leader of his
band, while Tonweya becomes a
scout, a leader of a different sort.
The Dakotah travel with the sea
sons, hunt and regularly war with
rival tribes. Hill’s detailed descrip
tions of daily life are testimony to
the 25 years she spend research
ing Hanta Vo.
The novel is a success as a nar
rative of adventure alone, but it is
much more. Exploring the spiritual
consciousness of her characters,
Attention Folklorists
Professor Barre Toelken’s new book Dynamics of Folklore
is now stocked on our shelf in the mythology section.
This book will excite both the novice and advanced scholar
with its eclectic look at folklore today. $11.95, illustrated.
Upstairs in the Tradebook Department
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the author explains the mystery
and significance of Sioux religious
ritual — the sweat lodge, the vis
ion quest and the sun dance.
At the center of Sioux life and
thought was “taku skanskan,” life
force, “something-in-movement,”
“spiritual vitality.” In a series of
moving scenes Ahbleza confronts
and learns the meaning and truth
of taku skanskan. These scenes
form the heart of Harrta Yo.
It’s the enduring theme of the
pilgrim in search of truth and self,
enacted this time on the stage of
the North American plains. Ah
bleza walks the path and be
comes a hero to his people, the
kind that usually appears only in
myth, romance or fantasy.
But the author’s attention to his
torical detail and her writing skill
keep the novel from becoming a
misty-eyed vision of what-might
have-been. She keeps her
characters solidly within the reas
suring bustle of camp life.
Under the guidance of Chunksa
Yuha, a Sioux raised with the old
customs and the old language, Hill
translated the novel into an ar
chaic Dakotah dialect, then re
translated it i nto English in order to
correctly reflect the Sioux idiom
that was spoken almost 200 years
ago.
Hanta Yo will be successful and
long remembered, and it deserves
to be. It is history exquisitely styled
into fiction. It tells the kind of tale
people like to read, and it tells it
well. By Martin Stadius
r
Somebody’s Darling
By Larry McMurtry
© 1978 Simon and Schuster
$10 hardback
Larry McMurty, Stanford crea
tive writing schoolmate of Ken
Kesey, is usually known as a wri
ter of Texas fiction. His name may
be unfamiliar, but works such as
The Last Picture Show and
Horseman, Pass By have turned
his novels into hit screenplays.
With Somebody's Darling,
McMurty has written a humorous,
sometimes sad, satire of
Hollywood’s film industry, its peo
ple and their relationships.
While the plot is a simple love
triangle, a startling cast of minor
characters keeps the book in
teresting and revealing of a cyni
cism pervading the fantasy
creating business.
There are refreshing portraits of
paranoid chauffeurs, sexually
frustrated business geniuses, a
six-foot-three-inch actress in love
with an overdosing, impotent rock
star; an ex-AII American producer
from Texas who makes his living
gambling; the sunshiny Southern
California orange juice cult; LA’s
version of Austin, Texas; two
hilarious scriptwriters from Texas
with their legion of groupies and a
tragic vignette of a child shot by
his movie-star mother.
Add trips to the New York Film
Festival, Rome and Texas and
there is no time in this 347-page
story to let up.
But for all the chuckles pro
voked by McMurtry’s gentle pokes
at his vulnerable protagonists,
there is a good dose of despera
tion. And if a character isn’t desp
erate, they’re pathetically apathe
tic.
A sense of humor, sincerity and
love of the industry are McMurtry’s
virtues but often cynicism moti
vates his characters. Women fall
in love to gain power and domi
nate weaker men. Men are oppor
tunistic, loving women who can
provide them with business be
nefits. Unselfish relationships ap
pear only as friendships, never
physically consummated.
Essentially, McMurtry is saying
love isn’t all it seems. Someone
may be everybody’s darling but
it’s a hell of a lot harder to be
somebody's darling.
Since this newest novel won’t
be published in paperback for a
while, it might be a good idea to
catch up with a few earlier McMur
try works. All Mv Friends Are
Going To Be Strangers is an ap
propriate place to start, since
many of the characters in
Somebody's Darling have been
carried over from previous work.
McMurtry is no Harold Robbins or
Irving Wallace when it comes to
selling novels, but he has ac
quired a large legion of fans be
cause he knows how to teH a
human story with memorable
characters. By Dave Steinman
1
Theater
Line
By Israel Horovitz
Oregon Repertory Theatre
Directed by Carolanne Young
March 9 and 10
Hitting imaginary home runs,
guzzling beer and singing, a
baseball fanatic waits on stage for
the members of the audience at
the Oregon Repertory Theatre to
find their seats. Actor Doug
Schroeder delineates his charac
ter, Fleming, with a well-timed
belch.
Soon four others join Fleming
on stage: Stephen, a jabbering,
eccentric music freak (played by
Dan Moore); Molly, a sleazy,
bleached-blonde sexpot (Joanie
Schumacher); Dolan, a well
dressed organization man (Will
Morningsun); and Arnall, Molly’s
wimpy, leisure-suited husband
(Andrew Traister).
As the five form a line, each try
ing to trick, force or seduce his or
her way to the coveted first spot,
Line by Israel Horovitz is off and
running.
Not many plays are suitable for
a midnight showtime, but Line fits
the bill. It’s a short, lively farce
about an all too common aspect of
modern existence, flawed only by
the playwright’s insistence upon
inserting a “Profound Message”
into the ending.
But director Carolanne Young
has a good instinct for the com
edic strengths of the play. The ac
tors develop their roles with large
humorous strokes; there’s no
time for subtle characterization.
When Molly slithers onstage in a
skin-tight, imitation leopard jump
suit, the nature of her personality
is instantly obvious. The play ends
before the superficiality of the
characters becomes a hindrance.
Metaphysical garbage, the end
ing comes as a surprise, but an
inappropriate one. Horovitz will
never make it as a philosopher.
The actors deserve better for they
are a well-rehearsed, professional
bunch. Luckily, they rush through
the ending before it wrecks the
rest of the play.
Line is the second in the Oregon
Repertory Theatre’s series of
Midnight Mafia presentations. If
the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
isn’t your idea of late night enter
tainment, try Line. It’s guaranteed
to keep you awake.
The play begins at midnight Fri
day and Saturday. Admission is
$2. By Martin Stadius
—emu
Cultural Forum
1979-1980
CULTURAL FORUM
COORDINATORS
Applications are now being taken
for the following positions:
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
FILM AND UTERATURE
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
JAZZ/BLUES CONCERTS
FOLK MUSIC CONCERTS
POPULAR MUSIC CONCERTS
The deadline for applying is April 6,1979. Interviews will be conducted April 9 -13.
(These are non-salaried positions)
Applications available in EMU Program Office • Suite 2