Otherwise, Revolution!

Reviews / Votes

Otherwise, Revolution! masters an enormous task to deliver a remarkable service to readers: Tillett clarifies the central threads of one of the most complex, disturbing, and compelling novels of modern times-and she shows how they weave through that text into our lives. Ultimately she shines a light on injustice and justice through Silko's violent and graphic epic. A leading scholar in Native American and Indigenous literatures, with special expertise in Leslie Marmon Silko, Tillett is a worthy guide through the many layers of Silko's harrowing yet illuminating novel. Tillett investigates the strange power of Almanac of the Dead to both pierce and prophesy the collapse of a disordered world-even as she clarifies the novel's underlying promise toward change. This guide is a gift to readers of Native American literatures that will be read as a companion to the major novel. Generations of readers will be grateful for Tillett's guidance. * David L. Moore, Professor of English, University of Montana, USA * Rebecca Tillett not only insightfully analyzes the Indigenous underpinnings of Almanac of the Dead that reveal alternate cosmologies and ontologies humanity desperately needs in the Anthropocene Era; she also reveals the 'partnerships' that enable the systemic oppression of the masses of humanity along with the earth and other living things. Tillett explores the novel's intent to be seen as part of the narrative in which we live. She bridges the social and environmental justice imperatives of the fictional and 'extra-textual' worlds, echoing the novel's call to action in her own and effectively demonstrating the book's continuing relevance twenty-five years post-publication in the day of Trump and Brexit. Almanac of the Dead is in both Craig Womack's estimation and my own the most important book of the 20th century. Tillett's commentary on it is essential reading in understanding its messages for surviving the 21st. * Kimberly Wieser, Associate Professor of English, University of Oklahoma, USA * Thoughtful, insightful and brave, this book provides a daring and much-needed consideration of what is often considered to be Leslie Marmon Silko's most challenging work. Tillett's wonderfully comprehensive study not only reminds readers why Almanac of the Dead is very much a book for our times, but also of the importance of grappling with, and heeding, the novel's messages about reciprocity and justice. Otherwise, Revolution! will be indispensable to those studying the novel that many critics now feel is Silko's masterpiece. * Padraig Kirwan, Senior Lecturer in the Literature of the Americas, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK *