Description
A significant and innovative contribution to Austin studies. How did an Illinois Methodist homesteader in the West come to create one of the most significant cosmological syntheses in American literature? In this study, Hoyer draws on his own knowledge of biblical religion and Native American cultures to explore Austin's creation of the "mythology of the American continent" she so valued. Austin lived in and wrote about "the land of little rain," semiarid and arid parts of California and Nevada that were home to the Northern Paiute, Shoshone, Interior Chumash, and Yokut peoples. Hoyer makes new and provocative connections between Austin and spiritual figures like Wovoka, the prophet of the Ghost Dance religion, and writers like Zitkala-sa and Mourning Dove, and he provides a particularly fine reading of Cogowea.

Reviews
"Dancing Ghosts is interdisciplinary, historically grounded American Studies scholarship at its very best. On one level, it offers a sophisticated, well-focused reading of the work of Mary Austin. On another, it provides readers with a wealth of information about western Indian tribes, particularly those from the Owens Valley, and offers a model for how American Indian studies ought to be done."—Melody Graulich, Editor, Western American Literature

“Hoyer explores how Mary Austin adapted Native American religious traditions in her early fiction, probing the cross-fertilization that resulted from Austin’s

Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prophets of a New West: Wovoka and Mary Austin
"To Bring the World into Divine Focus": Syncretic Prophecy in The Land of Little Rain
Weaving the Story: Northern Paiute Myth and The Basket Woman
Women Made of Words: Austin and Mourning Dove
Ritual Drama/Dramatic Ritual: Austin's "Indian Plays"
Dancing Ghosts: The Land of Little Rain as Syncretic Ritual
Afterword: Resurrection
Notes
Works Cited
Index