Mari
Sandoz, “Story Catcher”
Historian and Writer about American Indians and
White Settlers of the Great Plains
Historian and Writer about American Indians and
White Settlers of the Great Plains
Mari
Sandoz grew up as the oldest child of Swiss homesteaders at the frontier in
Nebraska at the end of the 19th century. During her childhood she spoke only
Swiss German, the language of her mother. When she was finally allowed to
go to school at the age of nine, a new world opened up for Sandoz. There she
learned to speak, read, and write in English, which enabled her to document
her experiences and her everyday life. Due to her fascination with writing,
she aspired to become an author in addition to her being a school teacher
and librarian. She used her books on the Great Plains as a means to create
understanding for the nature and the people of her region. Her most successful
works were “Old Jules” (1935), a book on the life of her father,
and the two books on the world of the American Indians “Crazy Horse”
(1942) and “Cheyenne Autumn” (1953). Sandoz was impressed by the
Indian culture and its oneness with nature. In contrast to the customary current
depiction of the Indians as
culturally
inferior, she emphasized in her texts the equivalence of the Indian and European
cultures. She similarly broke with the romantic image of frontier life. In
her series on the white people's colonization of the Midwest, she picked as
central themes the exploitation of natural resources and the struggles of
people against each other. Sandoz' works are unique in their mixture of literary
fiction and historical documentation, and they cannot be assigned clearly
to one or another literary genre. They are based on extensive research and
convince the reader by their faithfulness to detail and the author's empathy
for her characters. To this day Sandoz' books are valued as an impressive
and reliable exploration of Midwestern history. In 1950 she was awarded an
honorary Doctor of Literature by the University of Nebraska. A bust of Sandoz
stands in the State Capital Building in Lincoln, Nebraska, and every year
the State of Nebraska honors a person with the Mari Sandoz Award for a significant
contribution to the literature of Nebraska.
Filme/Films:
Song of the Plains: The Story of Mari Sandoz. Documentary.
Videocassette (60 min.). Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.
Cheyenne autumn.
Videocassette (158 min.). Based on movie of 1964.
Warner Home Video, 1985.
Literatur/Literature:
Sandoz, Mari. Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas.
New York 1942.
Stauffer, Helen Winter. Mari Sandoz, Story
Catcher of the Plains. Lincoln 1982.
Piekarski, Vicki.
Westward the Women: An Anthology of
Western Stories by Women.
Garden City 1984.
Filme/Films:
Song of the Plains: The Story of Mari Sandoz. Documentary.
Videocassette (60 min.). Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.
Cheyenne autumn.
Videocassette (158 min.). Based on movie of 1964.
Warner Home Video, 1985.
Literatur/Literature:
Sandoz, Mari. Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas.
New York 1942.
Stauffer, Helen Winter. Mari Sandoz, Story
Catcher of the Plains. Lincoln 1982.
Piekarski, Vicki.
Westward the Women: An Anthology of
Western Stories by Women.
Garden City 1984.
