David Seals
Encyclopedia
David Seals is a Huron writer specializing in Native American
culture and history.
was made into a major motion picture starring A. Martinez and Gary Farmer
. It was produced by George Harrison
's Handmade Films
, and featured appearances by Wes Studi
, Graham Greene
and Mr.Seals' son, Sky Seals, and then-wife Irene Handren-Seals. Parts of the movie were filmed on location on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
in Lame Deer, Montana
, with a number of tribal members playing small roles in the film.
Along with fellow filmmakers William McIntyre
and David Ode, Seals was a 1990 winner of the Bush Artists Fellowship, from the Bush Foundation in Minneapolis, for their 6-hour "poetic documentary", With Visible Breath I Am Walking. He has also written documentaries for HBO and PBS.
His other published works include the novel Sweet Medicine, a sequel to The Powwow Highway, which Booklist
called "a comic masterpiece". In Sweet Medicine, the story continues where The Powwow Highway ended, but with the added device of the characters also commenting on the success of the previous book and film. In an ironic and self-deprecating incident, the protagonists have the chance to see the movie, but choose to see a Hollywood blockbuster instead. Later they also encounter a commune of yuppie
newagers
, and are tempted with the promise of fame and money, if they would only choose to sell out their vision. The New York Times
said, "The book is full of adventure, humor, love and sex, and occasionally some eloquent rage about the way Indians have been treated in America."
Seals' essays have appeared in The Nation
, LA Times, Newsday
, and 3 scholarly anthologies.
He has also self-published a number of books, and his work has been taught in the English programs at numerous schools, including the University of Hawai'i and Cambridge University.
Recent works include The Creation Myth, a full-length book of six parts, which is being serialized online. Compared to John Milton
's Paradise Lost
in scope and style, it is written in heroic verse
and adds lengthy details to Greek and Egyptian theogonies
.
His family memoir is entitled Abduction at Roswell.
(AIM)..
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
culture and history.
Publishing and film career
Seals' 1979 novel, Powwow HighwayPowwow Highway
Powwow Highway is a 1989 comedic road movie based on a novel by David Seals. It features A Martinez, Gary Farmer, and Amanda Wyss. Wes Studi and Graham Greene, who were relatively unknown actors at the time, have small supporting roles.-Plot:...
was made into a major motion picture starring A. Martinez and Gary Farmer
Gary Farmer
- History :Farmer was born in Ohsweken, Ontario into the Cayuga nation and Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy. Farmer attended Syracuse University and Ryerson Polytechnic University, where he studied photography and film production....
. It was produced by George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's Handmade Films
Handmade Films
HandMade Films is a British film production and distribution company. Through a series of sales, and acquisitions, the company now known as Handmade Plc owns all the rights and assets of the original HandMade Films Ltd...
, and featured appearances by Wes Studi
Wes Studi
Wesley "Wes" Studi is a Cherokee actor, who has earned notability for his portrayal of Native Americans in film. He has appeared in well-received Academy Award-winning films, such as Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, the award-winning Geronimo: An...
, Graham Greene
Graham Greene (actor)
Graham Greene is a Canadian actor who has worked on stage, and in film and TV productions in Canada, England and the United States.-Early life:...
and Mr.Seals' son, Sky Seals, and then-wife Irene Handren-Seals. Parts of the movie were filmed on location on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, formerly named the Tongue River Indian Reservation, is an Indian reservation that is home to the Northern Cheyenne tribe of the Native Americans. It is located around the small towns of Lame Deer and Ashland, Montana, in parts of Rosebud and Big Horn...
in Lame Deer, Montana
Lame Deer, Montana
Lame Deer is a census-designated place in Rosebud County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,018 at the 2000 census. Lame Deer is part of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and the home of the Chief Dull Knife College. Lame Deer is the starting location of the movie Powwow...
, with a number of tribal members playing small roles in the film.
Along with fellow filmmakers William McIntyre
William McIntyre
William Rogers McIntyre, CC was a Canadian Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.Born in Lachine, Quebec, the son of Charles Sidney McIntyre and Pauline May Sifton, he moved with his family to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan when he was young. In 1939, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from...
and David Ode, Seals was a 1990 winner of the Bush Artists Fellowship, from the Bush Foundation in Minneapolis, for their 6-hour "poetic documentary", With Visible Breath I Am Walking. He has also written documentaries for HBO and PBS.
His other published works include the novel Sweet Medicine, a sequel to The Powwow Highway, which Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
called "a comic masterpiece". In Sweet Medicine, the story continues where The Powwow Highway ended, but with the added device of the characters also commenting on the success of the previous book and film. In an ironic and self-deprecating incident, the protagonists have the chance to see the movie, but choose to see a Hollywood blockbuster instead. Later they also encounter a commune of yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
newagers
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
, and are tempted with the promise of fame and money, if they would only choose to sell out their vision. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said, "The book is full of adventure, humor, love and sex, and occasionally some eloquent rage about the way Indians have been treated in America."
Seals' essays have appeared in The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, LA Times, Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, and 3 scholarly anthologies.
He has also self-published a number of books, and his work has been taught in the English programs at numerous schools, including the University of Hawai'i and Cambridge University.
Recent works include The Creation Myth, a full-length book of six parts, which is being serialized online. Compared to John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
in scope and style, it is written in heroic verse
Heroic verse
Heroic verse consists of the rhymed iambic line or heroic couplet. The term is used in English exclusively.In ancient literature, heroic verse was synonymous with the dactylic hexameter. It was in this measure that those typically heroic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey and the Aeneid were written...
and adds lengthy details to Greek and Egyptian theogonies
Theogony
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
.
His family memoir is entitled Abduction at Roswell.
Personal life and political activism
Seals lives in Raton, New Mexico. He is a founding member of the Black Hills Alliance and a long-time activist and supporter of the American Indian MovementAmerican Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
(AIM)..
Books by David Seals
- The Powwow Highway: a Novel (1990) New York, Plume. ISBN 0452263778
- Sweet Medicine (1992) New York, Orion Books. ISBN 0517588013
- The Poetic College: Essays and Poems on Literature and Society, 1989-1991 (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1887786074
- Third Eye Theatre (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1887786082
- Thunder Nation (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1887786139
- The Seventh Generation: Images of the Lakota Today (1998) New York, PowerHouse Books. ISBN 1576870316
- Abduction at Roswell (2008) Arizona Press. ISBN 9781435758995
Anthologies
- Klawans, Stuart; Peter Biskind, Carl Bromley (2000) Cinema Nation: The Best Writing on Film from the Nation 1913-2000. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-286-3 (contributor)
- Deloria Jr, Vine; Marijo Moore (2003) Genocide of the Mind: New Native American Writing. Nation Books. ISBN 1-56025-511-0 (contributor)
- Moore, Marijo (2006) Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: An Anthology of the American Indian Holocaust. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-838-1 (contributor)