Tucson, Flood Plain Press, (1994). Her first book, a collection of poems published by Native American author and publisher Joseph Bruchac's press. Silko's first exposure to wide readership came in The Man to Send Rain Clouds, an anthology of fiction edited by poet Kenneth Rosen in 1974. She had several stories in the collection, one of which was selected for Martha Foley's Bicentennial anthology, 200 Years of American Short Stories, a remarkable honor for a writer who had not even had a book of fiction published at that point. Silko's early work combines elements of traditional Native American storytelling techniques with the Western form of the novel or short story. As an individual of mixed descent -- part Laguna Pueblo, part Mexican, part white -- Silko wrote from a perspective that acknowledged and used elements of each culture, while she herself was apart from all of them -- an outsider, and as such, her perception was remarkably individuated, free from the cliches of standard Indian stories. It was in this way -- in her ability to create characters who were alienated from both mainstream society and their own cultures -- that she not only created compelling stories and characters but came to be regarded as a voice for the disenfranchised. Now her writings appear widely in anthologies and as introductions, although now they are more overtly "political," and more explicitly identified as "Indian." For a writer whose total literary output over more than 30 years is relatively small, Silko has had enormous influence -- on publishing, on college campuses in Native American literature and multiculturalism courses, and in helping to define the parameters of a Native American literature that avails itself of Western forms and the written word at the same time that it draws upon tribal oral traditions of storytelling and other ceremonial purposes. This is the uncorrected proof copy of the second edition, handmade by the author and inscribed by Silko "with love," with the dedication hand-written on the copyright page and numbered "Uncorrected Proof Copy #5" in her hand. Fine in saddle-stitched wrappers with cover art affixed. Illustrated by the author, including artwork not in the original edition, and with an afterword to this edition that does not appear in the earlier edition. With hand-addressed mailing envelope.   [#025744] $750

All books are first printings of first editions or first American editions unless otherwise noted.

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