ABSTRACT
Whereas Ceremony is the work of a young writer – Silko was in her early twenties when she wrote it – Power is the work of a mature author. Silko’s narrative strategies were, by her own admission, intuitive rather than consciously planned. Arguably, Power is a more crafted and intellectually sophisticated novel. The essays in Dwellings propound an uncompromising, deep ecological commitment, underpinned by tribal belief systems; and reading them one might well decide that Hogan has assumed the essentialist position of ‘Ecological Indian’, without due consideration of its contingent complexities. Yet, Power explores these complexities, problematizes the tribal stories and sets the experience of inherent contradiction at the heart of the protagonist’s dilemma.
