Hey /lit/, I don't visit this board often, but I took a class last semester called 'Native American Literature' as a fulfillment of my Humanities requirement for my uni and enjoyed it much more than I had expected.
So if you have any favorites or recommendations for books by or about Native Americans, I'd love to hear them and your thoughts on them.
We read:
'Lame Deer Seeker of Visions' by John Fire Lame Deer
'Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' by Sherman Alexie
'Custer Died For Your Sins' by Vine Deloria Jr.
'History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan' by Andrew Blackbird
and 'Black Elk Speaks' by Black Elk
My apologies if I broke any board etiquette, I looked in the wiki, catalog and archive for this topic but couldn't find anything.
>>7635719
i have never seen a thread on this OP
i know nothing about it, but just wanted to say i hope you know to ignore the cunts. i hope you find like-minded people and i look forward to seeing the results
>>7635719
I read a book called Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon who was a Native American author. The book only partially touched on Native American life, a lot of it was just him wandering through various small towns in the United States. Well written and worth a read for a pic at small town Americana in the not so distant past but still very different pre internet days.
Also Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee gives a depressing but accurate account of US v Native American Wars and the long history of the US Government being willing to go back on its word whenever a cheap buck can be made
>>7635773
Thanks, I appreciate it. From what I've seen /lit/ seems a lot more welcoming than most boards I visit, but of course there are cunts everywhere
>>7635827
Sounds interesting, I like the sound of the fact that Blue Highway doesn't pigeonhole the story into being about Native American life just because it's by a Native American, ya know
>>7635719
From the library, I got a huge graphic novel that illustrates many Native American folk tales, but I can't recall it's title
white author but pretty exhaustive account of the Pine Ridge shootout, the American Indian Movement (warts and all) and the Leonard Peltier murder trial. He's still serving two life sentences on some very shaky evidence.
>>7635719
A few more recommendations
'Government Welfare Check' by James Hawk Beats Wife
'Petting Zoo' by Billy Horse Rabbit Dog Sheep Cow Lighting
'Fetal Alcohol Syndrome' by National Institutes of Health
John Trudell's writing is very politicized, but pretty emblematic of the lyricism of Indigenous oral tradition
>>7635835
Blue Highways is not worth your time.
I like Sioux tales when it comes to Native American folklore.
>>7635719
Uh...Last of the Mohicans?
>>7635719
Give me like 20 minutes to get home and I'll give you a good list from my home library
Aboriginal lit is great, I'm glad you took a course on it anon!
As I'm a Canada Fag, there's a heavy emphasis in university on aboriginal writers and issues. A degree requirement for pretty much all degrees at my uni is an aborting all studies course.
One of my favourite aboriginal authors is Thomas King. He's half Greek/half Cheeokee as well as being both Canadian and American, so his perspective is really interesting.
He recently wrote a book called "The Inconvenient Indian" which is non-fiction, but a really great and entertaining read filled with both history and anecdotes.
Thomas King is definitly a great place to start for aboriginal writers.
So is Eden Robinson.
If you like plays, "The Rez Sisters" by Thompson Highway is also great. It's a native adaptation of Les Belles Soeurs (also a great play).
Pick up Dover Books's (yes el cheapo Dover Books) Great Short Stories by Contemporary Native American Writers. It's like $3 and covers 100 years (albeit briefly) of different writers. My favorites were Darcy McNickle and Duane Niatum
Louis Owens (not in the Dover) is also interesting. He was a John Steinbeck scholar and writer himself.
>>7636208
redman cuck detected
This shit right here. Read it in my Native American Studies class and it hit me right in the feels
WE
WUZ
CHIEFS
>>7637476
Fucking this. The use of voice and form is brilliant for they substantiate the theme.
>>7635719
Thanks a ton for these recs OP, this is something I'm very interested in. I've read some poetry of and interviews with Sherman Alexie, loved it. How was Fistfight in Heaven?
>>7636208
dale gribble is that you?
>>7637515
>How was Fistfight in Heaven?
It was my favorite of all the books we read in the class. It was a collection of short stories that were all very compelling and gave a good narrative of Indian life on a reservation without being overbearing about the 'plight of the Indian'
>>7637541
Awesome, definitely will get that one then. Sounds like what I'd expect from Alexie.
>spend a chill night on /lit/
>backlog triples in size
I don't even
>>7637481
the thing is, many native people can have a narrative like this one in their recent past
a friend of mine from uni was blackfoot, he told me about the army and treaty of the blackfoot nation, and quite honestly if that was my heritage i would be proud as fuck and defiant as he was. he was never tactless or rude, but he spoke as someone with true cultural pride.
I read a lot of Native lit when I was younger, sadly I can't remember the quality, but my favorites were Panther in the Sky and Watch for me on the Mountain.
>>7637824
Yea, a lot of the shit went down here in the pnw relatively recently desu less than 150yrs ago
>>7637634
Mine is up to 40 between this and the biography thread
Lurking. I'm going to read Bury my Heart pretty soon.
