If this is Your Land, where are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground“We need to understand our stories because our lives depend upon it.” -- Ted Chamberlin The stories we tell each other reflect and shape our deepest feelings. Stories help us live our lives -- and are at the heart of our current conflicts. We love and hate because of them; we make homes for ourselves and drive others out on the basis of ancient tales. As Ted Chamberlin vividly reveals, we are both connected by them and separated by their different truths. Whether Jew or Arab, black or white, Muslim or Christian, Catholic or Protestant, man or woman, our stories hold us in thrall and hold others at bay. Like the work of Joseph Campbell and Bruce Chatwin, this vital, engrossing book offers a new way to understand the hold that stories and songs have on us, and a new sense of the urgency of doing so. Drawing on his own experience in many fields -- as scholar and storyteller, witness among native peoples and across cultures -- Ted Chamberlin takes us on a journey through the tales of different peoples, from North America to Africa and Jamaica. Beautifully written, with insight and deep understanding, If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? examines why it is now more important than ever to attend to what others are saying in their stories and myths -- and what we are saying about ourselves. Only then will we understand why they have such power over us. From the Hardcover edition. |
From inside the book
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Page 162
Every metaphor contains a riddle , and every good one courts nonsense . After a
while , any metaphor begins to lose its strangeness and to become so familiar
that it seems simply true . That ' s not good ; which is what the American writer ...
Every metaphor contains a riddle , and every good one courts nonsense . After a
while , any metaphor begins to lose its strangeness and to become so familiar
that it seems simply true . That ' s not good ; which is what the American writer ...
Page 163
Metaphor is the basic trick of language , and we are sometimes impatient with
tricksters . But the door between reality and the imagination can ' t do without a
hinge . “ Shall I compare thee to a summer ' s day ? ” asks Shakespeare . “ Yes , ”
we ...
Metaphor is the basic trick of language , and we are sometimes impatient with
tricksters . But the door between reality and the imagination can ' t do without a
hinge . “ Shall I compare thee to a summer ' s day ? ” asks Shakespeare . “ Yes , ”
we ...
Page 217
... and they converge precisely at the point where they each embrace the
figurative as the factual . Western science is most literal when it is most figurative .
A mathematical equation is pure metaphor , pure song and pure story . x2 + y2 = r
?
... and they converge precisely at the point where they each embrace the
figurative as the factual . Western science is most literal when it is most figurative .
A mathematical equation is pure metaphor , pure song and pure story . x2 + y2 = r
?
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
LOSING | 74 |
REALITY AND THE IMAGINATION | 94 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground J. Edward Chamberlin Limited preview - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
aboriginal American Americas asked Australia become beginning believe bring called century ceremony choice civilized claim comes contradiction course cowboys cultures death described dream English fact faith father feel Gitksan give hand happen heart hold horses human hundred idea imagination important Indian John kind knew land language later listen live look meaning metaphor mind mountains move native natural Navajo never North once poem poet question reality recognize remark represented rhymes river sacred seemed sense settlers side sing society sometimes sounds speak spirits stories and songs storytellers strange talking tell things thought told traditions translated true truth turned understand West wonder write written
Bibliographic information
| Title | If this is Your Land, where are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground |
| Author | J. Edward Chamberlin |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Vintage Canada, 2004 |
| ISBN | 0676974929, 9780676974928 |
| Length | 271 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Modern / General Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social Social Science / Customs & Traditions Social Science / General Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |