Eva Hunt
The Transformation of the Hummingbird: Cultural Roots of a Zinacantecan Mythical Poem.
Cornell University Press, 1977. Symbol, Myth, and Ritual series. First edition. 0801410223 312 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.25" x 8.75", is bound in gray cloth, with black lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Dust jacket exhibits light shelfwear. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"This brilliant example of structural-symbolic analysis places a contemporary Mexican Indian mythical poem in its cultural and social contexts. The author uses a historical approach to relate the poem, entitled "The Hummingbird," to its original antecedents in prehispanic Mesoamerican mythology, and thereby to reveal the meaning of its rich and obscure symbolism.
Professor Hunt first describes her methods and assumptions, and provides a framework for her analysis. Next, proceeding from natural orders to cosmic and cultural orders, she discusses prehispanic religious symbolism and discloses the manifold links connecting the particular symbolic complex that made up the god Huitzilophochtli, one of whose transformations was the hummingbird. She then shows that the historical and cultural roots of the poem are still alive in present-day Indian life, as part of a total and continuing structure, "a sacred armature that organizes, blends, and gives ultimate meaning to the puzzle pieces in the present." Finally, she asks: How can symbol systems change yet remain the same over long historical periods? To answer the question she posits a new evolutionary theory of symbols.
The methods and theories of several branches of the social sciences and the humanities are used selectively throughout the book. By means of this novel, interdisciplinary approach, Professor Hunt has succeeded in writing an important work that may well become a classic."