Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2010
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 30:4 (Fall 2010).
Abstract
Writing Indian, Native Conversations provides keen discussion across three decades of Native American literature in the twentieth century along with consideration of literature in the new millennium. Interviews with well-known Native American scholars and authors such as Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, and Louis Owens provide a foreground from which Purdy delves more deeply into the works of Silko, Welch, Erdrich, King, Vizenor, and others. The critical, theoretical framework from which he analyzes the works is based on a construct that has at its core the assumption that "we all come to a work of literature with a 'lens,' a critical-cultural orientation," which evokes a multiplicity of interpretations and responses from readers. Purdy's "four-part theory of elemental, structural traits of Native texts" is rooted in the following elements: differentiation, investigation, affirmation, and continuance, also known as DIAC. DIAC serves as a critical tool with which to further investigate Native literatures.
Comments
Copyright © 2010 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.