Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History Native American

Being in Being

The Collected Works of a Master Haida Mythteller

by (author) Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay

translated by Robert Bringhurst

Publisher
Douglas & McIntyre
Initial publish date
Oct 2023
Category
Native American, Folklore & Mythology, Indigenous Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771623759
    Publish Date
    Oct 2023
    List Price
    $29.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Being in Being contains three masterpieces by legendary Haida mythteller Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay. The shortest recounts the high points of the legend of his family. The second, Raven Travelling, is the longest and most complex version of the story of the Raven ever recorded on the Northwest Coast. The third is The Qquuna Cycle, a narrative poem of nearly 5,500 lines, one of the true masterpieces of North American literature.

Robert Bringhurst’s eloquent and vivid translations of these works are supplemented by explanatory notes that supply the needed background information.

About the authors

Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay was born in the Haida village of Qquuna about 1827. During Skaay’s lifetime, the face of Haida Gwaii was transformed but the traditions he was born to and grew up with were those of the precolonial, preindustrial, preliterate Haida world. So great were his talents as a storyteller and poet that he remains the most important figure in all of Haida literature.

Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay's profile page

Robert Bringhurst is a poet, typographer and linguist, well known for his award-winning translations of the Haida storytellers Skaay and Ghandl, and for his translations of the early Greek philosopher-poet Parmenides. His manual The Elements of Typographic Style has itself been translated into ten languages and is now one of the world’s most influential texts on typographic design. Among his most recent publications is a pair of essay collections, The Tree of Meaning (GP, 2006) and Everywhere Being is Dancing (GP, 2007). Bringhurst lives on Quadra Island, off the British Columbia coast.

Robert Bringhurst's profile page