The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology by Radin, Paul (1987) Paperback

by Paul Radin

Anthropological and psychological analysis by Radin Kereny and Jung of the voraciously uninhibited episodes of the Winnebego Trickster cycle.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Religion, Native American, Folklore, Philosophy

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

He was an American cultural anthropologist and folklorist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Radin

Reviews

[Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because the myths herein are the finest in the world. Unfortunately, the essays that precede and follow are subpar. Also unfortunately, my entire review will not fit on Goodreads, so here I have limited my review to an introduction and explication of the myths. Feel free to write if you'd like to see more.
Stanley Diamond presents an interesting structure of western thought with the Book of Job as one pillar and Republic as the other, Radin lends interesting insight into some aspects of Trickster mythology and Winnebago culture, and Jung's short essays draws important parallels between western traditions and that of Trickster, but all of these essays, and especially Kerenyi's which has no redeeming qualities, suffer from a disappointing cultural bias – disappointing because each of these authors note a fundamental difference between Trickster mythology and European ideals of good and evil, but fail to see how Trickster mythology addresses many of the cultural problems that have arisen because of European ideals of good and evil. With the exception of Jung, they do not even note that European culture has misinterpreted its own founding mythology by creating categories of pure good and pure evil, that Yahweh is neither pure good nor pure evil, that Yahweh is, in fact, a Trickster.
If they would have acknowledged this, they could have discovered in Trickster a reminder of many of the missteps our culture has taken, that have created great injustices and destroyed balance in the natural world. Instead, they fall prey to the misinterpretation of “western” mythology and argue that ideas of pure good and pure evil represent a higher form of psychology and culture than exists anywhere in Trickster mythology.

The Winnebago Trickster Cycle (Radin, 3-62)
To begin, Trickster shrouds tradition in contradiction. He is the chief, who is never allowed to go on a warpath, yet he says that he will go on the warpath and invites the whole village to come to a feast at his house. Everyone knows that the chief is not allowed to go on the warpath, but they cannot refuse to go to the feast because he is their chief. He leaves the feast and sleeps with a woman, which is strictly forbidden before going on the warpath, so anyone who did believe he was going to go is quickly disappointed. Yet ultimately he has satisfied their expectations by letting them down twice – the chief will not go on the warpath.
After repeating this episode four times, he does set out on the warpath, but he shuns all those who follow him to this point and goes alone. Once he is by himself, it becomes clear he is not and never was going to go on the warpath. He travels through the world talking to every rock, plant, animal, and human like his own brother. For all the terrible things Trickster does, he never goes on the warpath.
It seems ironic that while some believe that Trickster contains elements of good and evil and the God in the bible is pure good, Trickster is the one who refuses to go on the warpath. That is because Trickster does not lend himself to fanaticism, to extremes, he lends himself to balance, and war is the human world out of balance.
Trickster is not a God who draws lines around codes of contact and the natural world, he erases them. He does so allegorically in episode 12 where his antics get him chased off the edge of the world and searches through nothingness to find the shore. He asks many fish who claim not to know, but ultimately he finds that, “He had been swimming along the edge of the ocean right along” (Radin, 12). Allegorically, his antics step over the line of conduct and he is banished from the human world. But in doing so, the great creator redraws the line of conduct around himself, including more of the natural world within our realm, exposing us to a greater breadth of reality than ever before.
Often this inclusion of new realms relates to the human body in bold terms that would excite authors like James Joyce and the Earl of Rochester. Trickster often reinterprets the natural world and human civilization in terms of the human body, and in doing so reinterprets the body iteself. In episode 15 (Radin, 18) Trickster thinks he sees the chief's flag flying in the distance, until he realizes it is just his own blanket floating above him on his erection. He takes the sacred symbol of a chief flying his flag down to the function of the human body, both poking fun (pun intended) at the act of flying a flag, pointing out that it is nothing more than a comical display of masculinity, but also perhaps breathing new life into a jaded ritual by rerooting it in a possible bodily origin, in the same way that T.S. Eliot's Wasteland both stripped bare and revitalized Christianity by artfully exposing its pagan roots.
Trickster constantly unites the creative impulse with the most base bodily functions. In episode 23 (Radin, 22) he is fooled by a laxative plant and given explosive gas and then excrement. In this state, he tricks an entire village to climb onto his back in an attempt to hold down the gas, but he explodes heartily and casts men to all four corners of the earth. This is at once a hilarious parody of the ideal that Judea-Christian mythology takes so seriously – that one big dude's actions created the world as it is – and also a reminder of the duality of human existence, both grand and comical, in that even while we conquer the four corners of the earth we must still pass gas. Like a franker version of the speeches by Shakespeare's most eloquent orators, in which they state that all their beautiful words – and all life – is nothing but breath – Trickster admits that all of his tricks, even those that formed and populated the world, are nothing more than air expelled.
In his afterward, Radin misses the point of these comical episodes, dismissing Trickster's actions as pure buffoonery. In episode 25 (Radin, 28) Trickster is blinded, but navigates himself to water by asking a series of trees for directions. Though the trees lie to him, he knows that he is getting closer to a source of water based on the type of trees he is speaking to, and how close each of them need to be to water. Because Radin misses this, he argues that Trickster is merely a bumbling fool, who is lied to by the trees he considers brothers, and finds water by accident. When Trickster proclaims himself a fool in the next episode, Radin reads this as a simple realization of his ineptitude, but it is much more than that. Trickster is stockpiling his knowledge, and by realizing exactly how he has been fooled, he has learned another trick. In understanding his own shortcomings, he understanding the shortcomings of others – some of the most important knowledge any of us can accumulate, especially if we are tricksters, creators, rewriters of social codes.
One of the most beautiful elements of Trickster mythology, is that form reflects content. The reader is often led to believe certain things about characters or situations, with no indication that anything may be amiss, and then these assumptions are proven flat wrong because the narrator gives us a detail so crucial that we realize we were fools to make assumptions without it.
The narrator of Trickster deploys this literary tactic in episode 27 (Radin, 29), when we are told the tale of Trickster killing three children, and only after after we have reacted to their murders in the way that Trickster, are we given the crucial piece of information that they are raccoon children, entirely changing our perception of what we understood to be true. To me this drives home the meaning of episodes where Trickster is easily fooled, like when he knocks himself unconscious trying to pick plumbs, only to realize he had pursued the reflection of plumbs. We should not be so quick to judge, for who are we to say that our own perceptions of the world are not mere 2 dimensional reflections of reality.
Trickster always remains true to his impulses even when it is clear they will lead him into a trap, because that is the only way to continue to expand his consciousness, and thus our own. In episode 32 (Radin, 32) he finds a party, and even though that party turns out to be too small for him, he joins in. But he does not becomes small to fit the party, instead, the party must grow large to accommodate him – an example of the creator elevating seemingly comical surroundings, activities, and characters. Of course, he ends up tricked and trapped because of this, but that is the point. He has learned a new way he can be tricked, how others can be tricked, and another element of the nature of tricks themselves.
Yet even though Trickster is true to himself, he never takes himself too seriously. He constantly mocks his own impulses and acts of creation. In episode 39 (Radin, 39) Trickster has his enormous penis chewed apart by a chipmunk and then uses the pieces to create food for men. This is another parody on the impulse that led to much of biblical mythology – that one really big cahone created and fed all of humanity with his manliness – but instead of remaining the big dick that lords over all humanity, here the creator is emasculated after the act of creation, showing that the greatest good that can be dome for humanity is not only to create, but to give up the big dick that goes along with being a creator, to reject the role of the vanguard.
The four episodes in which Trickster fools other animals into providing for his family (episodes 41-44, Radin, 41-49), which Radin claims are inconsequential in the development of Trickster's psychology, reveal several new elements to his trickery. The great imitator seems to fail at mimicking these four animals, or using his knowledge to appear to be able to outmatch them at their own skills, as he did with coyote, but after falling prey to many tricks himself, Trickster now has many resources. Now that he has mocked, transgressed, and overstepped all social boundaries, he is the master of exploiting those taboos and relationships. Raven exploits the antagonistic relationship between predator and prey by leading a wolf to a struggling calf then scaring up the herd so the carcass is his alone, and in the same way, Trickster exploits the relationship of host and guest by offering invitations he knows others cannot refuse, then bungling his attempts and imitating the way they provided for him, so that they are obliged to repeat their actions and provide for his whole family. At the end of these episodes he always asks his wife if he is a great provider, and indeed he is. He can provide for his family without ever having to master the arts of others. His art is the master over all others.
In episode 45 (Radin, 49) Trickster exploits another element of relationships: gossip. By lying to Mink he convinces him that the chief's daughter is in love with him. The narrator gives no indication that this is true, but by claiming that it is a rumor, Trickster convinces Mink that it is true, giving Mink the impetus to go to her, and when she does in fact choose to sleep with him, Trickster's lie becomes truth. Here, not only is Trickster the master of rumors, but also language, and by extension, art. As Picasso would say, his lies tell the truth. He can create with mere words. Of course, he can also destroy, and that is exactly what he does, tricking mink into eating a laxative that causes him to soil the chief's daughter and have to leave the village in disgrace. This concludes a promise Trickster made earlier in the cycle to take revenge on Mink for tricking him, thus also concluding a theme in the cycle.
Trickster is constantly fooled, by himself and others. He always acknowledges his folly but rarely has his revenge. However, as I have noted, in each of these episodes he is cataloging shortcomings and foolishness. As he ate a laxative and soiled himself before, he tricks mink into doing here. So while he could not have his revenge on the laxative in that episode, or on several of his other adversaries in other episodes, the knowledge he acquires becomes useful in the predicaments that come to him in the future. As he says, “When you escaped from me I just ached to get hold of you and now you have come right here!” In short, Trickster teaches us the lesson to learn from our mistakes. While it may pain us to be fooled and unable to right wrongs done to us by other or ourselves in the moment, it is more important to hold onto the lesson learned for the future.
Poor biased Radin misses this point because this episode does not seem to belong in the differentiation of Trickster's psychology. But as we can see it plays a great role in this cycle as a work of literary art, explaining much more about the character of Trickster and the human experience when followed by many episodes of Trickster's folly, especially the one in which he is tricked by the laxative.

The Winnebago Hare Cycle (Radin, 63-96)
This cycle adds many interesting details to the Trickster tradition, and also gives us a compelling glimpse at how these myths functioned in Winnebago culture. Episode 10 (Radin, 72) ends with the narrator stating that because of the events in this episode, the people refer to going to their uncle's house as slitting their noses. This simple, shared expression reflects how alive these myths were to their cultures. Everyone knew them and constantly considered their details, giving them a shared, complex, and beautiful cycle of myths from which to analyze situations, discuss problems, and determine behavior – much more alive, universal, and complex than any myths we share today.
Many patterns in the myth point to the ideals of this culture. Evil characters, who Hare must destroy to protect the humans, are constantly characterized as being hoarders, by storing more wealth than they themselves need. They exploit gender roles, as they are often men who overpower and control many women, and more broadly, they enslave others, turning human beings into property. Overall, all of these exploitations are taboos because they destroy balance, and all of them again reflect problems our society has taken to extremes, often because of the very differentiation and compartmentalization with which we view the world – the very boundaries Trickster fights against, and constantly breaks. All of this can be seen in episode 14 (Radin, 76).
The cycle ends with a beautiful detail that Radin points out is found in no other mythology and distinguishes the world view behind this mythology from any other. When Hare makes his final push to ready the world for man, instead of ordering them to be subservient to the newest beings, he asks them what they would like their relationships with man to be.
Trickster does, however, force some of them to change. When antelope want to feed on men, he removes their sharp teeth, but this is to be expected, since Trickster's role in the balance of the world is to make it hospitable to man. This should be our goal as well, and we should take away teeth from those who wish to harm the whole of humanity or any group, but we should always keep the role of Trickster in mind – that the ultimate purpose of his goal was to maintain balance. In bending every rule, in discovering every folly by committing them himself, he teaches us about the world and ourselves, thus giving us more potential.
This element of inclusion is evident in the myth itself, where the horse is included during this delineation of roles as well as in other places. Horses were not present in Native America before European invasion, so this relatively recent element was added to an ancient cycle. This simple details shows that the narrators of these tales shares a trait with Trickster himself – in this tradition, no element of life is trying to be excluded for purity or any other reason. Like Trickster, this tales and the people who tell them are constantly trying to include and master every new element that arises, excluding and rejecting nothing.
When Bear demands that a ritual be performed before any man ever kills any member of his species, Hare shows him that man would not have to perform any ritual to kill a bear, that man would be able to outsmart any animal. He creates a sweat lodge and burns meat as offerings, drawing the bear out of his hiding, and then corners but does not kill him, four times. Even though Hare did not need to perform any ritual to kill a bear, and Hare was right that man would not physically need to either, the Winnebago chose to perform the same rituals Hare did before killing any member of Bear's species.
Here, we see a practical element of the living nature of these myths and rituals. By knowing these myths, everyone in their culture chose to perform the rituals, and the ritual of making a sweat lodge and burning meat does draw bears out of hiding so that they can be hunted.
Another unique aspect to the closing of this cycle, which Radin does not point out, is that man is not made mortal because he sinned, but because earth mother tells Hare that she simply cannot support an endless proliferation of man, thus telling him not to search for Eldorado, and not to go forth and multiply.

The Nature and the Meaning of the Myth, by Paul Radin (Radin, 111-172)
Though his cultural bias is often frustrating, Radin's explication explores many interesting details of these cycles, and gives us an interesting and important glimpse into the culture of the Winnebago nation. With a note of admiration to the civilization and capacity for forgiveness of the Winnebago, Radin points out that the chief was never allowed to go on the warpath, and “one of his most important functions was to succor the needy and plead for clemency in all cases of infractions of tribal law and custom, even in case of murder. His lodge was a sacred asylum, and absolutely inviolable. If a murder had been committed, he not only interceded for the life of the murderer, but actually, if need be, offered to take the place of the malefactor” (Radin, 114).
Radin also points out a seemingly sexist part of the cycle: “Only one thing could destroy (the war bundle's) power, contact with menstrual blood” (Radin, 117), but considering that Trickster never goes on the warpath, and considering all the terrible ramifications of war, the fact that menstrual blood can prevent war indicates that only femininity can prevent war, and can stand beside Trickster in this regard. The only thing that can prevent man from going on the warpath is a stark reminder of life, of its sacred and fragile nature – a reflection on the power, rather than the weakness, of femininity.
He also points out how crucial the art of storytelling was to Winnebago culture, and especially the storyteller. “What actually occurred was that a (story) passed, through purchase, from one gifted raconteur to another” (Radin, 122). Thus the storyteller was always one who greatly valued the art of narrative, especially because in Winnebago culture no one stockpiled wealth, so in order to craft and tell stories, the storyteller had to give up part of the livelihood necessary to their survival. This is, of course, a sacrifice all struggling artists must make, but it points out that art was no act of leisure for the Winnebago.
On page 123, Radin points out that myths from other cycles were incorporated into the Winnebago Trickster Cycle and the episodes were constantly being rearranged by different raconteurs. Thus the tradition of these myths has always been to expand, change and rearrange for new meanings, to deal with changing times and new challenges. As the horse and white tricksters were included after the invasion of Europeans, it is natural now to include trickster myths from around the world and create a new cycle for modernity.

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translation of the trickster cycle, about 50 pages, is interesting and well done. I have no interest in reading Jung’s theories about it all.

[Oliver Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to this book because I enjoyed Lewis Hyde's trickster book. This one has some interesting collections of trickster "story cycles" but the analyses are overly-academic and seem terribly dated. They did have some observations and insights that stuck with me, though. The book was written in the 1950s, and it feels like it. It seems to stand as a touchstone for other books on the subject, and I'm glad I read it. Not sure if I'll come back to it often.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This study shows up as a reference as a source in recent books e g. social psychology.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scatological, surreal, and entirely original, Winnebago mythology is unlike any other I've ever encountered. There's no similarities, or alternate renditions of stories that I can see that can be traced back to Greco-Roman or Sumerian mythology (though the comparison is there, explored in part 4). Instead, we have the cyclic stories of these absolutely bizarre characters like Wakdjunkaga and Hare that was really refreshing to read.

Radin's analysis was decent, but I thought he would have came to a more thorough conclusion of the figure of the trickster as a whole. Jung's essay at the end was probably my favourite, but that's probably due to my interest in the ideas of Jung anyway.

[YourLadyFriendBonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished this one about Native American mythology and the Trickster character. The first half was pretty fun and interesting, as it was reading the myths. The second part, although interesting and full of facts, was a bit boring. Felt like something I should have read in college. 3.5/5

[Aicha · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential read to anyone looking to know more about the trickster character.
I must say, tho, the commentary essays were my favorite, especially Jung's.
The dude is so polite and easy to read. And he finds ways to connect Radin's theories to his own, smoothly.

[Daniel B-G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I keep trying to read books on mythology. I've ceased to find them interesting.

[Stef D · Rating 4 out of 5]

really dope interpretation - the essay loses a little steam but still good. big nice very cool

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated, but really well done. Even the Jung stuff is pretty good, and he usually sucks.

[André Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

note: the crocodile paradox is stated incorrectly towards the end. If it is a friendly crocodile he can return the child without creating a logical paradox.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty dry summary of a few of the most common Trickster myths in Native-American folklore. It was interesting but a little more specific than I had been hoping for (I forget how this got added to my list, but in subsequent research it seems like my interest in the Trickster figure might have been better fulfilled with the farther-reaching Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art).

My main disappointment with the book is that Radin is concerned almost exclusively with the Winnebago tradition, although he appears quite capable of considering further implications of the Trickster archetype. For example, late in the book he says:

The symbol which Trickster embodies is not a static one. It contains within itself the promise of differentiation, the promise of god and man. For this reason every generation occupies itself with interpreting Trickster anew. No generation understands him fully but no generation can do without him. Each had to include him in all its theologies, in all its cosmogonies, despite the fact that it realized that he did not fit properly into any of them, for he represents not only the undifferentiated and distant past, but likewise the undifferentiated present within every individual. This constitutes his universal and persistent attraction. 168

How much better of a book this would have been if this were the first paragraph instead of the very last!

That said, I can understand how people interested exclusively in the Native-American Trickster myth could be very satisfied with this book. It is a quick read, yet very thorough, and he did what he sets out to do very professionally. I would recommend jumping straight to his analysis and skipping the actual telling of the story, which starts the book off and didn't make much sense to me isolated from Radin's interpretative notes. Two essays finish off the book, the first by a Greek scholar that is everything I hate about academia: pedantic, self-satisfied and totally aloof from anything that matters. The second, luckily, is everything I wish the book had been: an exploration by Carl Jung of the Trickster archetype and what it means for us psychologically. I would totally buy a Trickster book by Jung.

Not Bad Reviews

@pointblaek

[Larry Strattner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat less self absorbed view (by the tale spinners) of good and evil (as we name them) than some mythologies. Very interesting.
I only gave it four stars because some of the material was tough sledding to get through.
What is interesting is the Trickster comes from a very long oral tradition and many of the creation details and the relationship of higher powers to man mirror other beliefs from around the globe and definitely predate some of the world's more modern religions.

[Tommy /|\ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book focuses on the Trickster mythology centered on the Winnebago tradition. I was a bit disappointed, since I was looking for a text that spoke of more than just the Trickster centered on a single area. That said, its a very well researched, and thoroughly discussed aspect of the Winnebago perspective on the tales concerning Trickster.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Native American mythology. Almost every tribe has a character who plays tricks on people or otherwise causes mischief. Every tribe has its own creation myth and consider themselves the original people. A good read for someone interested in Native American culture.

[Alex Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was recommended to me by a very cool poetry professor. :) pretty interesting stuff

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great myths here. Hawk story pages 35-36 is great.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Winnebago Cycle is probably the funniest and most sustained trickster tale series I have ever come across.

[Dwight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essays toward the end were somewhat dry, but the retellings of the myths were outstanding.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine book. Be prepared for humor regarding excrement.

[kate]

Analysis of Native American trickster mythology, focusing on the myths of the siouan winnebago of wisconsin.

Radin also examines the myths of the Assiniboine and Tlingit trickster figures, Coyote and Raven, respectively, within the context of Native American origin myth.

Essays by Karl Kerenyi and Carl Jung conclude the book, contrasting native myth with western biblical ideas and western psychology.

Offers thorough and informative insight into the evolution of Native religious and psychological development. This book is so often referenced in other books of jungian analysis, I felt it was a must-read.