Suddenly They Heard Footsteps Theme and Chap. One

Page XVII and XVIII of the preface provides a clear statement of the central theme, focus, and storytelling issues that Mr. Yashinsky intended to address in his book. Basically Yashinsky's goal was: "Suddenly They Heard Footsteps reflects my experience as a Canadian storyteller, but I hope it is true to our common dream, fired by elders like Alice Kane and Ruth Sawyer, of making storytelling a living art for our times. The Way of the Storyteller was my literary inspiration....I have tried to show you the way of a storyteller who came of artistic age knowing his stories must have room in them for firebirds and microchips for spirit quests and concentration camps. I offer this book as an honour-song for our storytelling ancestors and an invitation for you to join the storytellers circle."

Chapter One: 'Suddenly They Heard Footsteps': The methodology used by Mr. Yashinsky in Chapter One to meet his theme was basically a long list of questions distributed across 15 pages of text, e.g A storyteller? What kind of job is that?; What kinds of stories do you tell?; Where do people tell stories nowadays? Why do people tell stories nowadays? and many more. He then tells a number of personal, cultural, and religious stories interwoven with personal guidance. The most important questions to me were: "What kinds of stories should we tell today? To what audiences? How can we learn from our master storytellers? and what new approach can we bring to the storyteller's art?" Bottomline: Each storyteller finds his or her own repertoire and the voice to convey it.