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Interviews | June 19, 2009

Dave: IMG Jim Lynch Makes Landscape Art... Out of Text

3 comments By Dave

jimlynchIf Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Jim Lynch's Border Songs. Continue »
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Native American Fiction: A User's Manual

by David Treuer

Native American Fiction: A User's Manual Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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 Manual is 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.

Review:

"[This] book is likely to become the manifesto of a new generation of Native American writers and critics and will be of interest to readers of literature anywhere." Werner Sollors

Review:

"Treuer asks that novels by Native Americans be afforded their status as literature, not cultural artifacts, an argument bound to impact Native American literature programs." Booklist

Review:

"Treuer's particular readings of works by Silko, Erdrich, Welch, and Alexie are brilliant, respectful, and uncompromising. The book may raise some eyebrows and probably some hackles but all concerned will be the better for it." Alan Trachtenberg, Neil Grey, Jr. Professor Emeritus of English Yale University
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About the Author

Davis Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. He is the award-winning author of two previous novels, Little and The Hiawatha. He teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Minnesota.
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Table of Contents

Author's Note

 

Introduction: The Clouds Overhead

 

Smartberries

 

Lonely Wolf

 

Plain Binoculars

 

How to Hate/Love an Indian

 

The Myth of Myth

 

The Spirit Lives On

 

Indian/Not-Indian Literature

 

Some Final Thoughts about the Non-Existence of Native American Fiction


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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
kllopez, December 28, 2008 (view all comments by kllopez)
I hope Mr. Treuer will reexamine the usefulness of the canon of Native American literature models with a more contemporary framework, not simply jump off from the 1700's into this present predicament in literature that pertains to Native Americans: tradition versus integration. It's too easy to draw contrast with cultural sociology. Much more intriguing would be a treatment that uncovers the literary nuances of contemporary writers. James Fenimore Cooper is not quite the literary equal of the more modern writers, and it is displacing to leap from Cooper to our present day Native American novelists. Cooper barely qualifies as a keen novelist. We can't leave out Salinger, Hemingway, Jack London, and Mark Twain when we examine the articulation of the Native American artifact. All of these writers have depicted Native Americans in questionable forms, and merit mention by Treuer, if we are to accept his premise that questions the usefulness of Native American literature as a cultural entity. Jumping from James Fenimore Cooper into the lap of Sherman Alexie is too large an extraction of generalities. Treuer leaves out literary giants, and I would rather see a contrast built between the more modern writers in the finer digest of literature. Such a treatment matches Silko with Twain, London with Erdrich, and Alexie with Salinger. This is a treatment that awaits Treuer's analysis. Without it, his premise remains incomplete. Give him some money to try again.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781555974527
Subtitle:
A User's Manual
Author:
Treuer, David
Publisher:
Graywolf Press
Subject:
Indians of north america
Subject:
History and criticism
Subject:
Native American
Subject:
American fiction
Subject:
American - Native American
Subject:
American fiction -- Indian authors.
Publication Date:
August 2006
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
212
Dimensions:
8.40x5.38x.65 in. .63 lbs.
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