Week 10 Reading Diary: Inuit Folk Tales

(polar bear, via Wikipedia)

This week's reading was (is?) really, really interesting--it's unfortunate that I'm writing this post so early in the morning, because I want to have more coherent thoughts about everything but in truth life is due so I'll just talk about some of my favorite tales and the thoughts that went through my head as I read them...

NUKÚNGUASIK, WHO ESCAPED FROM THE TUPILAK: (these names are killer). My immediate impression upon reading this story was that it was very, very creepy--and if it were brought into the present day it would be even creepier. The Tupilak is an interesting concept, and it might function well as a metaphor (I'll have to do more research on that. Tomorrow? I don't know if I have time to do research before this story is going to be due...but anyway...). The evocative nature of all of these stories means that they have the potential to carry a lot of sensory description, but I'm not sure if I want to fall back on that again this week or try something new for a change...brotherly dynamics, maybe? I usually don't end up with a lot of dialogue in my stories, but I really enjoy writing it, so that might be an option? Dialogue is always cool for showing family relationships...

THE WOMAN WHO HAD A BEAR AS A FOSTER-SON: this story was actually really heartbreaking. It made me miss my dog. The love that the old lady and the bear had for each other--and the fact that this love means that she lets him go in the end--is the highlight of the story, and I was thinking that a quiet story with just the two of them in it--or maybe the old lady worrying about the danger her bear-son is in while talking with someone else? Or watching him play with the children? Could it be a worry-for-the-future kind of story? Who knows; we'll see tomorrow--would function really well as a counterpoint to all the rest of my stories, most of which are really dramatic and sensory-focused (because that's how I experience the world: turned up to 100 on any given day. Ignore me. I'm rambling from tiredness).

Source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).