An Alsea personal narrative and its historical context

Article Abstract:

A text provided by a member of Oregon's Alsea Indian tribe is a personal experience narrative. William Smith's text, recorded in 1910 by anthropologist Leo J. Frachtenberg, is entitled 'The Death of U.S. Grant, an Alsea Indian' and concerns a killing that took place on the Siletz Reservation in Oct 1903. Direct speech and emphasis on the storyteller's viewpoint place the text within the personal experience genre. Smith's view of the killing as the result of an intertribal conflict differs from the historical record, which describes the killing as the outcome of a drunken fight.

Personal narratives, Native Americans, Native North Americans

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Personal narrative, Melville's 'The Confidence-Man,' and the problem of deception

Article Abstract:

Herman Melville in the novel 'The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade' draws on many semiotic stratagems used in con games, including personal narrative. The confidence man in the story, assuming there is one, uses personal narrative to present himself as vulnerable and non-threatening to create intimacy with his intended victim. Melville presents multiple characters in the novel who complain of people's lack of confidence while suggesting through the title and other hints that they are one confidence man assuming multiple disguises.

Portrayals, Criticism and interpretation, First person narrative, Melville, Herman, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (Book), Confidence games

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Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: The personal narrative in fiction: Faulkner's 'The Reivers.' (Special Issue: The Personal Narrative in Literature)

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