Sherman Alexie
A somewhat autobiographical tale of life on the reservation. Alexie is a Spokane Indian and this collection of stories provides us a picture of modern reservation life. By no means is this a linear story of Alexie's life as he portrayed in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Instead, since these are fictional short stories, we are not really sure which character would be Alexie and the stories are mythological in scope. What I found fascinating was how, even after more than a century removed from traditional Indian life, a large part of life is spent struggling with the integration of traditional and "modern" life, both in terms of day to day living and in terms of expectations for how to live. What also comes through strongly is the honor given to tradition. It is clear that fancydancing and storytelling continue to provide a lot of meaning. By presenting these short stories, by embracing the free form, mythological storytelling style, Alexie provides real insight to how modern Indians think and who they are.
Read
No comments:
Post a Comment