Curses and Blessings: Identity and Essentialism in the Work of Sherman Alexie

Abstract

How does or should the white reader/critic interpret work by the indigenous writer? How, as middle-class, Caucasian, English professors, do we (literally the two writers who have written the book that rests in your hands or upon the table in front of you) engage with the world that Sherman Alexie chronicles in his poems, fiction, and films? If a person has never set foot upon a reservation, if a person has never had a close friendship with a Native American, how can he or she enter into the imaginative landscapes created by Indian authors?

What is an Indian?

Sherman Alexie, “One Good Man”

In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written, all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts.

Sherman Alexie, “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”

If Indian literature can’t be read by the average 12-year-old kid living on the reservation, what the hell good is it?

Sherman Alexie, “Crossroads: A Conversation with Sherman Alexie”

She knew Indians were obsessed with authenticity. Colonized, genocided, exiled, Indians formed their identities by questioning the identities of other Indians. Self-hating, self-doubting, Indians turned their tribes into nationalistic sects.

Sherman Alexie, “The Search Engine”