The Storyteller

I am writing to you on behalf of your novel The Storyteller, which I recently read in the context of a seminar at Georgetown University. I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and problematization of Westernization and the constancy of culture among many other themes, in the format of a story. This novel made me seriously contemplate many questions that I used to think about, but that I never reached a satisfying end to. These questions include: What are the effects on a culture of a written versus oral storytelling tradition? To what degree is a culture still the same culture when it becomes mixed with other cultures? and Are indigenous people better or worse off when Westernized? among others. These are the questions that I am most interested …show more content…
This is because the Machiguengas, as a nomadic people, would not be able to support anyone who had any defects. This is the case with many indigenous societies around the world where infanticide or the killing of anyone who cannot contribute to the community is sometimes necessary for the survival of more members of that community. This ancient practice of the Machiguengas, of course, had a mythological reason as well, namely that anyone born with defects must have the devil inside of them. This is made more real to Saul, though, because he realizes that if he was born into Machiguenga society, they would have killed him as a newborn. This problematizes the lack of development of medicine in Machiguenga society. In Western society, where one can live even if they cannot contribute to society, Saul lives. This seems to imply that Western, sedentary society with advanced medicine is better than the nomadic, simple society of the Machiguengas. Though this seems to be the case, two points that arise from Saul’s interaction with the Machiguengas challenge this …show more content…
I see this on page 59 with one woman who commits suicide. The tone indicates that death is not something to fear or even to try to avoid because the Machiguengas believe in destiny. Therefore, the death of infants is not a problem because, on page 45, Saul says that “there’s hope of coming back” (45) from killing yourself based on your own free will. When I thought of this logic, it seemed to me that, while there is a possibility of coming back after suicide, there is no possibility of coming back after one is murdered against free will. This would seem to nullify the argument that infants can come back because it does not seem that they are killed based on their own free