Velma Wallis es una autora cuyas obras se sumergen en las profundidades de la vida tradicional y la resiliencia. Sus novelas, inspiradas en una vida vivida en la remota Alaska, exploran la fuerza de la comunidad y el espíritu indomable que surge de una profunda conexión con la tierra y las antiguas formas de supervivencia. Wallis escribe con una autenticidad notable que atrae a los lectores a un mundo donde la sabiduría de los mayores y la fortaleza de los jóvenes se entrelazan sobre un telón de fondo de paisajes duros pero hermosos.
Barcelona. 21 cm. 141 p. il. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial ilustrada. Traducción, Javier Alfaya. Biblioteca Millenium. "Plural". Traducción de: Two old women .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. ISBN: 84-413-1432-2
An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska
With the publication of *Two Old Women,* Velma Wallis established herself as a significant voice in Native American literature. This empowering fable became a national bestseller, winning the Western State Book Award in 1993 and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award in 1994. Translated into 16 languages, it achieved international success, particularly in Germany, with over 350,000 copies sold worldwide. *Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun* continues this tradition, rooted in the ancient legends of Alaska's Athabaskan Indians. It tells the tales of two adventurers who leave the safety of their tribes. Bird Girl, a headstrong young woman skilled in hunting, defies her family's expectations to pursue life on her own instead of conforming to traditional roles. Daagoo, a dreamer curious about the world, embarks on a quest to discover the fate of the sun in winter, seeking the legendary "Land of the Sun." As their stories intertwine, they confront the dangers and challenges of wilderness life. Ultimately, both discover that the pursuit of individualism comes at a high price, yet it is a price worth paying, leading to the beginning of true wisdom.
Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Trapping fur. Taking care of the dogs. For a thousand years, the Gwich'in clan had followed migratory animals across the north. But two generations before, the people had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon. Now, the Wallis family has a post office box and an account at the general store, and Velma listens to Wolf Man Jack on armed forces radio. The author discovers that her people have surrendered their language, traditional values, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. Flu epidemics have claimed many loved ones. Village elders seem like strangers from another land, and in a way they are. There is much drinking when the monthly government checks come, and that is when the pain comes out of hiding. Written by the author of the international bestseller "Two Old Women," this memoir yields a gritty, sobering, yet irresistible story filled with laughter even as generations of Gwich'in grief seeps from past to present. But hope pushes back hopelessness, and a new strength and wisdom emerge.
Ein Nomadenstamm im hohen Norden von Alaska: Während eines bitterkalten Winters kommt es zu einer gefährlichen Hungersnot. Wie das alte Stammesgesetz es vorschreibt, beschließt der Häuptling, die ältesten beiden Frauen als »unnütze Esser« zurückzulassen, um den Stamm zu retten. Doch in der Einsamkeit der eisigen Wildnis geschieht das Unglaubliche: Die beiden alten Indianerfrauen geben nicht auf, sondern besinnen sich auf ihre ureigenen Fähigkeiten, die sie längst vergessen geglaubt hatten …
Based on a legend told and retold for many generations in the remote Yukon River region of northeast Alaska, this is the tragic and shocking story of two elderly women who are abandoned by a migrating band facing starvation because of unusually harsh Arctic weather and a shortage of fish and game.