Native American Fiction A User's Manual

by Treuer, David

• ISBN13: 9781555974527
• ISBN10: 155597452X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-22
• Publisher: Graywolf Press

Summary

An entirely new approach to reading, understanding, and enjoying Native American fiction This book has been written with the narrow conviction that if Native American literature is worth thinking about at all, it is worth thinking about as literature. The vast majority of thought that has been poured out onto Native American literature has puddled, for the most part, on how the texts are positioned in relation to history or culture. Rather than create a comprehensive cultural and historical genealogy for Native American literature, David Treuer investigates a selection of the most important Native American novels and, with a novelist's eye and a critic's mind, examines the intricate process of understanding literature on its own terms. Native American Fiction: A User's Manualis speculative, witty, engaging, and written for the inquisitive reader. These essays--on Sherman Alexie, Forrest Carter, James Fenimore Cooper, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, and James Welch--are rallying cries for the need to read literature as literature and, ultimately, reassert the importance and primacy of the word.

Author Biography

David Treuer teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. 3
Introduction: The Clouds Overhead	p. 7
Smartberries	p. 29
Lonely Wolf	p. 69
Plain Binoculars	p. 77
How to Hate/Love an Indian	p. 109
The Myth of Myth	p. 115
The Spirit Lives On	p. 153
Indian/Not-Indian Literature	p. 159
Some Final Thoughts about the Non-Existence of Native American Fiction	p. 195
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.