FROM THE PUBLISHER

These interviews showcase three Native writers in dialogue with a European critic who becomes their partner in exploring individual and tribal identity, cultural survival and exploitation, and writing techniques. From Hartwig Isernhagen's unique perspective, readers survey the growth of Native writing in the United States and Canada within the context of indigenous world literature. All three writers responded to the same series of questions by their European interviewer. The dialogues show how three major figures assess the contribution of modernism, post-modernism, and the realist tradition to contemporary Native literature.

SYNOPSIS

These interviews showcase three Native writers in dialogue with a European critic who becomes their partner in exploring individual and tribal identity, cultural survival and exploitation, and writing techniques.

"Isernhagen's probing conversations in Momaday, Vizenor, Armstrong offer a complex look into the multilayered Native Indian fictional landscape."—American Literature

"Isernhagen covers issues of identity, writing strategies, stereotypes, translation, and literary criticism. That he selected N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor, and Jeannette Armstrong demonstrates his keen awareness of the variety among Native American writers and the different patterns that mark their writing, cultural survival, and teaching."—Choice