Polish Literary Depictions of Native Americans in Soviet-Era Adventure Novels

Abstract

In his book Indians in Unexpected Places, Philip J. Deloria demonstrates how Native Americans became engaged with the processes of modernization in the opening decades of the twentieth century, such as the growth of cinematography, the popularity of sports, or the development of auto-mobility. He shows the Native presence in the areas of American cultural production where Indians were not believed to be found. Deloria’s argument revolves around the notion of expectations. As he observes in the introduction,

expectations are almost invariably raced, classed, and gendered. They can be colored by religious practice and by regional location, touched by sexuality, transformed by national difference and global exchange. They take shape in a range of forms, from mass-produced images and literature to drama, to local folklore, to social behaviors.¹