“All
my work fits in my mouth,” Jo Carson says. “I write
performance material no matter what else the pieces get called, and
whether they are for my voice or other characters’ voices . .
. they are first to be spoken aloud.” Following an oral
tradition that has strong roots in her native Tennessee, the author of Teller Tales
invites the reader to participate in events in a way that no
conventional history book can.
Both stories in this book are set in East Tennessee in the
mid-eighteenth century and share certain characters. The first
narrative, “What Sweet Lips Can Do,” recounts the
story of the Overmountain Men and the battle of King’s
Mountain, a tide-turning battle in the American Revolution.
“Men of Their Time” is an exploration of
white-Cherokee relationships from early contact through the time of the
Revolution.
Although not well known to the outside world, the stories recounted
in Teller
Tales are cornerstones in the
heritage of the Appalachian region and of American history. In ways
that will appeal to young and old alike, Jo Carson’s
irreverent telling will broaden the audience and the understanding for
the stories of native Americans, settlers, explorers, and
revolutionaries of early America.
|
Teller Tales
Histories
by Jo
Carson
Ohio
University Press, 2007.
Order
a copy |
