ABSTRACT
In their discussion of the international origins of southern literature, the editors of a recent Norton anthology point out that “indigenous oral expressive traditions thrived in the South before the Europeans or Africans arrived” and “Cherokee songs were translated into English as early as 1765. “The editors further assert that Native American narratives “contributed to the matrix from which oral storytelling among southerners, red, black, and white, drew inspiration and technique.” However, they observe that “few scholars have tried to track the imprint of Native American oral traditions on the literary expression of European Americans or African Americans in the South” (Andrews et al. 1).
