CCBC-Net Archives
Historical Fiction: Criteria? -Reply
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Elizabeth Letterly <eletterl>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:56:50 -0700
Debbie, I'd like to after reading your critique of "Second Bend." I am a fan of the writer Alan Eckert, author of The Frontiersman and A Sorrow In Our Heart, an extensive biography of Tecumseh, as well as numerous other fictional and non-fiction accounts of events in U.S. history. I remember Eckert mentioning in some detail the alleged romance between Rebecca and Tecumseh in the Frontiersman, which is somewhat fictionalized, but he does not discuss it at all in A Sorrow, which is extensively researched, much more so than Frontiersman. The Shawnee Indians did, however, hold some settlers and frontiersmen in high esteem for their knowledge and prowess, including the "Kenton" that you mention who was captured several times by the Shawnee and escaped and who was the only white man of that time who could load and accurately shoot a musket at a full, dead run or astride a galloping horse. He, Simon Kenton, is another unfortunately lost to most historical accounts of that period. The esteem must have been reciprocal because, when Tecumseh died in battle, Simon Kenton recognized Tecumseh's body and deliberately lead soldiers to another body, knowing that "trophies" would be taken. His actions gave the Shawnees the opportunity to return late that night, retrieving their fallen chief's body and burying it with ceremony. Tecumseh's gravesite is still kept secret by the Shawnees, who believe that he will someday return.
One might mention how did Tecumseh then predict the New Madrid earthquake, which he did when he gave the spirit sticks to tribes as far away as Florida telling them that it would be their signal to rise up against the white man. Or, how he, the night before the battle in which he died, predicted his death, giving away all his bracelets and other identifying jewelry and going into battle as a mere warrior. Maybe if this book is "talked" from the perspective that there is so much more than this one narrow (and fictional) view of a very great man, its
"page-turning" positives could be the spark to take a reader to more information about Tecumseh.
Libby Letterly, District Librarian Williamsville CUSD #15 Williamsville, IL 62693
Received on Thu 23 Oct 1997 10:56:50 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:56:50 -0700
Debbie, I'd like to after reading your critique of "Second Bend." I am a fan of the writer Alan Eckert, author of The Frontiersman and A Sorrow In Our Heart, an extensive biography of Tecumseh, as well as numerous other fictional and non-fiction accounts of events in U.S. history. I remember Eckert mentioning in some detail the alleged romance between Rebecca and Tecumseh in the Frontiersman, which is somewhat fictionalized, but he does not discuss it at all in A Sorrow, which is extensively researched, much more so than Frontiersman. The Shawnee Indians did, however, hold some settlers and frontiersmen in high esteem for their knowledge and prowess, including the "Kenton" that you mention who was captured several times by the Shawnee and escaped and who was the only white man of that time who could load and accurately shoot a musket at a full, dead run or astride a galloping horse. He, Simon Kenton, is another unfortunately lost to most historical accounts of that period. The esteem must have been reciprocal because, when Tecumseh died in battle, Simon Kenton recognized Tecumseh's body and deliberately lead soldiers to another body, knowing that "trophies" would be taken. His actions gave the Shawnees the opportunity to return late that night, retrieving their fallen chief's body and burying it with ceremony. Tecumseh's gravesite is still kept secret by the Shawnees, who believe that he will someday return.
One might mention how did Tecumseh then predict the New Madrid earthquake, which he did when he gave the spirit sticks to tribes as far away as Florida telling them that it would be their signal to rise up against the white man. Or, how he, the night before the battle in which he died, predicted his death, giving away all his bracelets and other identifying jewelry and going into battle as a mere warrior. Maybe if this book is "talked" from the perspective that there is so much more than this one narrow (and fictional) view of a very great man, its
"page-turning" positives could be the spark to take a reader to more information about Tecumseh.
Libby Letterly, District Librarian Williamsville CUSD #15 Williamsville, IL 62693
Received on Thu 23 Oct 1997 10:56:50 AM CDT
