By All Means Break The Rules.

Stories Are The Reproductive Organs Of Language.

The Claim That Myth Is Always A Narrative Spin-off Of Ritual; The Claim That Myth Is The Projection Of Human Anxieties Onto A Cosmological Scrim; The Claim That Myths Are Invented To Give Sanction To Human Predilections And Institutions... These Are Ways Of Trivializing A Mode Of Thought That Has Served Humanity Well For A Very Long Time.

Literature In The Written Sense Represents The Triumph Of Language Over Writing: The Subversion Of Writing For Purposes That Have Little Or Nothing To Do With Social And Economic Control.

When You Think Intensely And Beautifully, Something Happens. That Something Is Called Poetry. If You Think That Way And Speak At The Same Time, Poetry Gets In Your Mouth. If People Hear You, It Gets In Their Ears. If You Think That Way And Write At The Same Time, Then Poetry Gets Written. But Poetry Exists In Any Case. The Question Is Only: Are You Going To Take Part, And If So, How?

In The Native Literatures Of North America There Aren't Any Novels. Instead, The Major Genre Is Myth. And Myths Are Stories That Are Fundamentally About The World, Not About Human Individuals. A Myth Needn't Include Any Humans At All. If It Does Include Them, They're Usually Minor Characters - Imaginary Humans Sent Out Like Scouts To Report Back On What's Happening In The Mythworld, But Not Central Participants In The Action.