Retrieving from oblivion: oral tradition in the novels of toni morrison and louise erdrich

The Native American and Afro-American culture has been preserved over centuries through the medium of oral literature. They employ oral tradition to preserve and maintain their cultural and individual identities. Storytelling is a survival tactic, a way to preserve and maintain identity. Morrison and Erdrich retrieve through oral tradition their lost identity, which is not only their personal identity but that of their whole people. The oral tradition is rooted in the ancient voices of the tribes, their stories, myths and rites. It is their wish to write it down, to not only record and preserve the memories but also the cultural tradition in a voice of story telling that brings back the old recollections in their novels. Erdrich’s and Morrison’s storytelling reconstructs and transmits the past and present tribulations. Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Louise Erdrich’s Tracks have registered the oral tradition in their novels for the benefit of both the listeners and the readers. The paper presents the pattern of ideas in which Morrison and Erdrich capture the form and purpose of oral story telling.