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THE THIRTEENTH HORSE-SONG OF FRANK MITCHELL (WHITE)
This Jerome Rothenberg's “total translation” of a Navajo song titled “The Thirteenth Horse Song of Frank Mitchell (White).”
This “total translation” is done with the help of David P. McAllester and a Wenner-Gren grant.
Overview
Based on the length and format of the originals, Rothenberg chose to translate this Navajo poem as an aural event.
There are a total of seventeen horse-songs and The Thirteenth Horse-Song is a portion of a Blessingway. A Blessingway is an event that lasts anywhere from one to nine days.
These songs tell a long story of the Navajo obtaining horses through the power of Enemy Slayer.
The key elements of this event is the creation of a sacramental environment composed of a leader and an audience. Hence it is considered a “complete translation” but the recording is also considered incomplete. (McAllister, 306).
Commentary
Bibliography
McALLISTER, H. S. “‘The Language of Shamans’: Jerome Rothenberg's Contribution to American Indian Literature.” Western American Literature, vol. 10, no. 4, 1976, pp. 293–309. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43017882. Accessed 23 June 2021.
