Tortured Skins and Other Fictions

by Maurice Kenny

This collection of short fiction from Mohawk writer Maurice Kenny pushes us to explore truth or what we may perceive as truth, showing us different truth of character, natural truth, everyday truth. Tortured Skins and Other Fictions , fourteen in number, form a cohesive study of characters and the anxiety provoking landscapes they inhabit―seemingly idyllic settings are inverted, becoming corrupt backdrops for slaughter and destruction―a broad metaphor for the relationships between the natives of this continent and its later colonizers. 
     The bear, as a trickster figure, resurfaces in various guises, various "'skins," throughout the pieces, confronting oblivious characters with their relationships to their worlds. These stories reflect today's world, merging its preoccupations of pop culture and paranormal occurrences. with the long oral tradition motif of animals existing as teachers with sometimes dubious methods―the X-Files colliding with contemporary Native American fiction.

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2000

About the author

Maurice Kenny, Mohawk, was born in Watertown, NY. His work has been published in almost 100 journals, including special issues, especially on Native American writing.

In 2000, Maurice received the Elder Recognition Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers. In 1996 On Second Thought was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award in fiction.

Maurice's book of poems, Blackrobe : Isaac Jogues, B. March 11, 1607, D. October 18, 1646, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, as was Between Two Rivers. He is the recipient of a National Public Radio Award for Broadcasting. His book The Mama Poems received the American Book Award in 1984. The Bloomsbury Review cited Wounds Beneath the Flesh as the best anthology of 1983.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed many of these stories because I liked the author's writing. The more modern stories were most interesting to me. I didn't care for the plays in the middle of a book of short stories, although it is titled "and other fictions." There is a kind of magic realism to these stories, which initially caught me by surprise. Eventually, I came to expect this in every story. Most were not so far-fetched that they defied imagination. I'm not usually one for these kinds of stories, but I did find them interesting anyway. However, the collection is a mixed bag. My favorites were: "Blue Jacket," "She-Who-Speaks-With-Bear," "Ohkwa: Ri," and "One More." I didn't at all care for: "What Did You Say?" or "Forked Tongues." Overall, an interesting collection.