Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Allan Chavkin, ed., Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony: A Casebook (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002).
Fourteen essays and two interviews that cover a wide range of topics in criticism on
Ceremony, including structure, landscape, animals, semiotics, and canonization.
Reyes Garcia, “Senses of Place in Ceremony,” MELUS, 10, 4 (1983): 37–48.
Traces connection between Tayo’s growing understanding of the land and the
abuses it has suffered (stolen from natives and mined for uranium used for
destructive purposes) and his sense of his own identity.
Lisa Orr, “Theorizing the Earth: Feminist Approaches to Nature and Leslie
Marmon Silko’s Ceremony,”American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 18,
2 (1994): 145–157.
Reads Ceremony in light of contemporary environmental and ecofeminist move-
ments, and argues it neither vilifies nor glorifies technology, but advocates balance.
Louis Owens, “‘The Very Essence of Our Lives’: Leslie Silko’s Webs of Identity,”
in his Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), pp. 167–191; reprinted in Chavkin,
pp. 91–116.
Focuses on Tayo’s position as a “mixed blood” and his growing awareness of the
power he can access due to that position. Owens also provides readings of the
many webs creating connections within Ceremony.
Naomi R. Rand, “Surviving What Haunts You: The Art of Invisibility in Cer-
emony, The Ghost Writer, and Beloved,” MELUS, 20 (Fall 1995): 21–32.
Examines the role of ghosts in works by three major contemporary American
authors from three different ethnic groups, arguing that the ghostly presences
have to do with the importance of survivorship in their cultures.
James Ruppert, “No Boundaries, Only Transitions: Ceremony,” in his Mediation
in Contemporary Native American Fiction (Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1995), pp. 74–92; reprinted in Chavkin, pp. 175–191.
Very helpful piece that analyzes the blending of Native and non-Native stories,
structures, and worldviews.
Colleen Shapiro, “Silko’s Ceremony,” Explicator, 61 (Winter 2003): 117–119.
Examination of the figure of the Hunter in Ceremony.
Edith Swan, “Feminine Perspective at Laguna Pueblo: Silko’s Ceremony,” Tulsa
Studies in Women’s Literature, 11, 2 (1992): 309–328.
Discusses both the historical and the mythological matrilineal structures of the
Laguna in relation to the female characters in Ceremony, as well as the signifi-
cance of family and clan stories, and the symbolism of the color yellow and the
associations to Yellow Woman.
Swan,“Laguna Prototypes of Manhood in Ceremony,” MELUS, 17, 1 (1991):
39–61.
Compares male figures in the novel to traditional masculine roles in Laguna
culture; includes a focus on Tayo’s relationship to the land and how that is
gendered.