Book Description
In its consideration of American Indian literature as a rich and exciting body of work, The Voice in the Margin invites us to broaden our notion of what a truly inclusive American literature might be, and of how it might be placed in relation to an international--a "cosmopolitan"--literary canon. The book comes at a time when the most influential national media have focused attention on the subject of the literary canon. They have made it an issue not merely of academic but of general public concern, expressing strong opinions on the subject of what the American student should or should not read as essential or core texts. Is the literary canon simply a given of tradition and history, or is it, and must it be, constantly under construction? The question remains hotly contested to the present moment.
Arnold Krupat argues that the literary expression of the indigenous peoples of the United States has claims on us to more than marginal attention. Demonstrating a firm grasp of both literary history and contemporary critical theory, he situates Indian literature, traditional and modern, in a variety of contexts and categories. His extensive knowledge of the history and current theory of ethnography recommends the book to anthropologists and folklorists as well as to students and teachers of literature, both canonical and noncanonical. The materials covered, the perspectives considered, and the learning displayed all make The Voice in the Margin a major contribution to the exciting field of contemporary cultural studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent
A book that challenges white male assumptions of "canonical merit". This is an impressive and breath-takingly insightful look at eurocentrism and its cronies, while advocating the genuinely importantexperiences of Native Americans and the tradition of narrative they have sobravely created. ... Read more

Book Description
A wonderful collection of essays by Native American and other scholars about issues central to Native American literature and life. Includes an extended interview with author James Welch, as well as reviews of newly published works relevant to questions of boundaries and sovereignties. ... Read more

Product Description
Pembroke Magazine, No. 38 contains a special section devoted to Native American Literature. This section contains remembrances of the late author Louis Owens, Gerald Vizenor's 2005 Western Literature Association Achievement Award Lecture, several essays on Native American literature, and some fine selections of poetry and fiction from contemporary Native American writers. Contributors include Gordon Henry, Kim Blaeser, Chris LaLonde, John Purdy, MariJo Moore, John Smelcer, Linda Hogan, and many, many more. In addition to the special section, this edition of Pembroke Magazine includes an interview with Stanley Plumly conducted by Grace Cavalieri. Kent Brown also interviews Billy Edd Wheeler, and Heather Ross Miller is honored by North Carolina Writers. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Church History, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1029 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African-American and Native American Literatures.(Book review)
Author: Joel W. Martin
Publication: Church History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 75Issue: 4Page: 941(2)

Article Type: Book review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Mississippi Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 1015 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote: African-Native American Literature.(Book Review)
Author: Dean Franco
Publication: The Mississippi Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 57Issue: 4Page: 679(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Studies in American Fiction, published by Northeastern University on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 815 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Brennan, Jonathan, ed. When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote: African-Native American Literature.(Book Review)
Author: Bonnie TuSmith
Publication: Studies in American Fiction (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: Northeastern University
Volume: 32Issue: 2Page: 252(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
These interviews showcase three Native writers in dialogue with a European critic who becomes their partner in exploring individual and tribal identity, cultural survival and exploitation, and writing techniques. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Remembered Earth
The Remembered Earth, edited by Geary Hobson, may have been the first anthology exclusively containing Native American literature.It is by far the most comprehensive one that I have come across.The works in the anthology cut across all literary genres (poetry, short stories, drama,etc) and cover most of the regions in the U.S.It includes works by whoare now major figures in the literary world-Leslie Marmon Silko and N.Scott Momaday for example-but it also includes a great sample of littleknow authors. My only quibble with the book is that there is no index,the table of contents is arranged by author and not by their work, andtheir is not a lot of biographical info included about the authors. Thosesmall quibbles aside, The Remembered Earth is a wonderful book that coversan extraordinary group of artists that often do not make it into theliterary canon. ... Read more

Book Description
The Mesquakie peoples of present-day Iowa, historically known as the "Fox," are at the center of White Robe's Dilemma. An encounter with the French in the Great Lakes region, their original homeland, marked their first appearance in Euro-American history. Targeted for annihilation after they refused alliance with the French, they nevertheless endured, reappearing again and again in the records of the English and Americans as well as the French.

Over the years, the resistance of the Mesquakies has taken many forms, diplomatic and military, economic and cultural. They have rejected Christianity for the most part, and ridiculed the many anthropologists who keep coming to study them. A substantial number have managed, unlike virtually any other Indian group in the United States, to elude the reservation system by buying and main-taining their own settlement. Several have made important contributions to the literature in English by Indians, as has Black Hawk, of the confederate Sauk, whose autobiography has been in print since the Jacksonian period; William Jones, who became a student of renowned anthropologist Franz Boaz; and Ray Young Bear, author of the highly regarded autobiography, Black Eagle Child or The Facepaint Narratives.

In this intriguing study, Neil Schmitz imaginatively reconstructs and carefully analyzes the multiple legacies of the Mesquakie people.He shows how the complex story of their survival raises critical questions about the representation of Indians in American literature and history.

Although the Mesquakies are central to the book, Schmitz ranges widely through American literature both by and about Indians. Chapters on Standing Bear and Black Elk reopen the issue of agency and status, and reposition their tribal history. Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor and Elaine Goodale Eastman's Sister of the Sioux are given extensive readings. In pointed example and comparison, the author's broad knowledge of American literature repeatedly shows itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good critical theory for teaching Native American Literature
This book is not only very informative in conveying the issues that Native Americans dealt with as a people, but, inadvertently,becomes extremely important for formulating questions/problems/theories one might ask when teaching Native American literature in a high school or college-level setting.White Robe's Dilemma can be considered one of the first in the way of ground-breaking work done in this particular area of American Literature.In that sense, then, it is true that the author, Neil Schmitz, "distinguishes himself" by way of being one of the first to actively contribute to the critical theory that tackles the problems of teaching Native American literature and culture in a literature class.Yet Schmitz, as an author, does not have to distinguish himself in the literary field.His work is renowned in the English critical literary field via his scholarly journal articles as well as for his authoritative, critical analysis of one of literature's most complex characters, Huck Finn, in his book, Huck and Alice:Humorous Writing in American Literature, not to mention the fact that he is a well-respected book reviewer for the Buffalo newspapers, an excellent lecturer, and has received awards for teaching excellence.

I agree with the man whose review stated that this "volume is a 'must' for anyone interested in tribal history."My opinion/recommendation about this book is that anyone interested in teaching Native American Literature should have this text as a guideline.

Good critical theory for teaching Native American Literature
This book in not only very informative in conveying the issues that Native Americans dealt with as a people, but, also (inadvertently), becomes extremely important for formulating questions/problems/theories one might ask when teaching Native American Literature in a high school or college-level setting.White Robe's Dilemma can be considered one of the first in the way of ground-breaking work done in this particular area of American Literature. In that sense, then, it is true that the author, Neil Schmitz, "distinguishes himself" by way of being one of the first to actively contribute to the critical theory that tackles the problems of teaching about Native American literature and culture in a Literature class.Yet Schmitz, as an author, does not have to distinquish himself in the literary field; his work is renowned in the English critical literary field via his scholarly journal articles as well as for his authoritative, critical analysis of one of literature's most complex characters, Huck Finn, in his book, Huck and Alice: Humorous Writing in American Literature, not to mention the facts the he is a well-respected book reviewer for the Buffalo newspapers, an excellent lecturer, and has received awards for teaching excellence.

I agree with the man whose review stated this "volume is a 'must' for anyone interested in tribal history."My opinion about this book is that anyone interested in teaching Native American Literature should have this text as a guideline.

White Man Write Long Book.
I guess if you're an insecure white guy who wants to distinguish himself from other white guys, then you write about Native Americans! What a niche. But the nothingness shows through.

How?
Rich in its accounting for the often surprising details, the necessary 'facts' (among them much newly discovered material), sovereign in its generalizing interpretations, elegant in its presentation, and revisionist in its central thesis, this volume is a 'must' for anyone interested in tribal history. ... Read more

Book Description
Joseph Nicolar’s The Life and Traditions of the Red Man tells the story of his people from the first moments of creation to the earliest arrivals and eventual settlement of Europeans. Self-published by Nicolar in 1893, this is one of the few sustained narratives in English composed by a member of an Eastern Algonquian-speaking people during the nineteenth century. At a time when Native Americans’ ability to exist as Natives was imperiled, Nicolar wrote his book in an urgent effort to pass on Penobscot cultural heritage to subsequent generations of the tribe and to reclaim Native Americans’ right to self-representation. This extraordinary work weaves together stories of Penobscot history, precontact material culture, feats of shamanism, and ancient prophecies about the coming of the white man. An elder of the Penobscot Nation in Maine and the grandson of the Penobscots’ most famous shaman-leader, Old John Neptune, Nicolar brought to his task a wealth of traditional knowledge.

The Life and Traditions of the Red Man has not been widely available until now, largely because Nicolar passed away just a few months after the printing of the book was completed, and shortly afterwards most of the few hundred copies that had been printed were lost in a fire. This new edition has been prepared with the assistance of Nicolar’s descendants and members of the Penobscot Nation. It includes a summary history of the tribe; an introduction that illuminates the book’s narrative strategies, the aims of its author, and its key themes; and annotations providing historical context and explaining unfamiliar words and phrases. The book also contains a preface by Nicolar’s grandson, Charles Norman Shay, and an afterword by Bonnie D. Newsom, former Director of the Penobscot Nation’s Department of Cultural and Historic Preservation. The Life and Traditions of the Red Man is a remarkable narrative of Native American culture, spirituality, and literary daring. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

FOR NATIVE AMERICANS AND ALL AMERICANS
With a touching and eloquent preface by the last living grandson of Joseph Nicolar, of the Penobscot tribe, whose original text dates from the 1890s, and with a brilliant and comprehensive introduction by the author, Annette Kolodny, this work will be a classic for anyone wanting to understand Native Americans. And not just that. The work and its introduction give us the deepest possible sense of alternative approaches to land, tradition, animals and humans, including a prophecy that white men will destroy themselves, essentially by destroying the environment. No one should miss this extraordinary book!

Mary Felstiner
Professor Emerita of History
San Francisco State University
... Read more

Book Description
Indian Nation documents the contributions of Native Americans to the notion of American nationhood and to concepts of American identity at a crucial, defining time in U.S. history. Departing from previous scholarship, Cheryl Walker turns the "usual" questions on their heads, asking not how whites experienced indigenous peoples, but how Native Americans envisioned the United States as a nation. This project unfolds a narrative of participatory resistance in which Indians themselves sought to transform the discourse of nationhood.
Walker examines the rhetoric and writings of nineteenth-century Native Americans, including William Apess, Black Hawk, George Copway, John Rollin Ridge, and Sarah Winnemucca. Demonstrating with unique detail how these authors worked to transform venerable myths and icons of American identity, Indian Nation chronicles Native American participation in the forming of an American nationalism in both published texts and speeches that were delivered throughout the United States. Pottawattomie Chief Simon Pokagon’s "The Red Man’s Rebuke," an important document of Indian oratory, is published here in its entirety for the first time since 1893.
By looking at this writing through the lens of the best theoretical work on nationality, postcoloniality, and the subaltern, Walker creates a new and encompassing picture of the relationship between Native Americans and whites. She shows that, contrary to previous studies, America in the nineteenth century was intercultural in significant ways. ... Read more