People's talk and the stories they tell have been engraved on my heart, and some of them have flown into my pen.
I'm called an oral historian, which is something of a joke. Oral history was here long before the pen, long before Gutenberg and the printing press. The difference is I have a tape recorder in my hand.
I don't believe there is something called 'film' and something called 'theater,' and that words belong in the theater. Some rather bad films have few words in them; some good films have a lot of words in them.
As far as the writing goes, I started telling stories as soon as I could talk, and started writing them down as soon as I could string words together.
There is a form of literature that is a deed, and a form that is only talk, and the latter passes away like a conversation.
My family is filled with wonderful storytellers. I lack their gift of gab, so it's a relief to be able to write.
Indians are marvelous storytellers. In some ways, that oral tradition is stronger than the written tradition.
The wordy tale, once told, were hard to tell again.
