The Man Who Heard the Land: A Novel (Native Voices) - Hardcover

Glancy, Diane

3.46

26 ratings by Goodreads

9780873514170: The Man Who Heard the Land: A Novel (Native Voices)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0873514173 ISBN 13: 9780873514170

Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press,U.S., 2001

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

A man driving a lonely Minnesota highway hears the voice of the land and embarks on an arduous odyssey of self-discovery. Although he is an adjunct lecturer teaching a course called "Literature and the Environment," the man soon realizes that there is much he must still learn about the state. He submerges himself into the history of the region, trying to piece together geology, Native folklore, and early exploration literature, all in an effort to decipher what the land has said.Along the way he experiences the deaths of his parents; he is stranded in an ice-fishing house for a cold winter night; he helps rescue a family from a flood of the Red River. He encounters more elusive obstacles when he tries to gather his material into a book but becomes hopelessly entangled in complexities, ambiguities, and contradictions. But the more the man works to uncover universal truths, the more he circles toward certain inescapable realities in his own life. The Man Who Heard the Land is a small masterpiece of prose - at once an enthralling narrative of one man's personal quest and a deeply probing meditation on each person's place in history.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Synopsis:

In this haunting novel by celebrated Native American author Diane Glancy, an unnamed man driving a lonely Minnesota highway hears the voice of the land--but he can't make out what it has said. The man is a professor who teaches a 'Literature and the Environment' course, but he soon realises that there is much he must still learn about the land, his past, and his home state. What follows is a kind of odyssey of self-discovery. He submerges himself into the history of the region, trying to piece together geology, Native folklore, and early explorer literature, all in an effort to decipher what the land has said. Along the way he experiences the deaths of his parents; he is stranded in an ice-fishing house for a cold winter night; he helps rescue a family from a flood of the Red River. He encounters more elusive obstacles when he tries to gather his material into a book but becomes hopelessly entangled in complexities, ambiguities, and contradictions. But the more the man works to uncover universal truths, the more he circles toward certain inescapable realities in his own life.

This is a small masterpiece of prose -- at once an enthralling narrative of one man's personal quest and a deeply probing meditation on each person's place in history.

About the Author:

Diane Glancy is the author of many novels, essays and books of poetry. She has won the North American Indian Prose Award and the Capricorn Prize for poetry. Part Cherokee, Glancy teaches Native American literature and creative writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.