Jean Taylor Kroeber, widow of Karl Kroeber, has granted permission for "SAIL" to reprint his "Address to Columbia College Students Elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, 18 May 2009" and "An Interview with Karl Kroeber." Conducted by Michael Mallick, the interview was published in the newsletter of the Department of English and Comparative…

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, a former English teacher and school counselor, is an award-winning author, best known for her children's books about the Rosebud Sioux life and culture, which combines history and legend to create culturally rich and authentic Native American stories. In this article, the authors share their conversations with Virginia…

This book is an introduction to the literature and art of American writer N. Scott Momaday, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and member of the Kiowa American Indian Tribe. The book describes the impact of Momaday's family, Kiowa heritage, Pueblo cultural experiences, and academic preparation on his worldview, poetry, novels, essays, children's…

In the novel Ceremony, Tayo suffers from flawed psychological vision, mainly as a result of being contaminated by certain preconceptions that he, like most Americans, has acquired from the social environment. In the beginning of the novel, Tayo suffers from physiological eyestrain.

Reviews life and literature of Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), Sioux Indian born in 1876 on Yankton Reservation (South Dakota), educated at Quaker schools and Earlham College (Indiana), accomplished orator, author of autobiographical essays and short stories, worker for Indian reform, lecturer, and founder of National Council of American…

Traces the development of Native American literatures as following a pattern of cultural revitalization. Examines how these literatures are being incorporated into the national literary canon and subjected to institutionalized domination at the same time that they are serving as a vehicle for indigenous political resistance and revitalization. (SV)

Leslie Marmon Silko physically locates the climax of the novel, Ceremony at Canoncito, southeast of the Jackpile Uranium Mine, and so metaphorically correlates this site with witchery. The novel is ultimately the story of Tayo, and how he must restore harmony between the land and his people.

One of the first Native American authors, Samson Occom, a Mohegan Indian, began writing in the 18th century. His writings included an ethnographic essay on the Montauk Tribe, an autobiographical sketch of his educational experiences and missionary activities, and his first publication, "Sermon at the Execution of Moses Paul." (ERB)

William Apess is among a number of Native intellectuals from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to whom scholars have paid increasing attention over the past decade and more. Apess was raised in the crucible of Native New England, had been abused in various ways in it, and spent his adulthood giving voice to those who experienced the…

Discusses the Native American literary renaissance that began in 1968, and introduces a survey of 175 books published since then by American Indians and Eskimos. Clarifies usage of "American Indian,""American Indian literature," and "Native American." Examines literary criticism of contemporary Native American…

The author of this article provides a critical assessment of Simon J. Ortiz's collection of poetry, "Out There Somewhere," to see how this literature of resistance continues through cultural connections. The resistance one finds in the poems--against mainstream political, social, and economic forces--results in continuance of Ortiz's…

In this article, the author relates her experience during her interview with Indian poet Simon Ortiz in the summer of 1978. She recalls how she had been amazed at how down-to-earth Ortiz had been despite his achievements. Ortiz was an important writer and has contributed much to native Indian literature with his essays, poetry, and short stories.…

In 1969, American Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island dramatized Native demands for self-determination, tribal lands, and tribal identities. Meanwhile, a blossoming American Indian literary movement began awakening America to Indians' continued existence and providing texts of "lived experience" that created a new kind of Indian leadership and…

"Arrest Sitting Bull," a novel written by Douglas C. Jones that relates the personal stories of individuals involved in the military and the political domination of the Sioux Indian during the period leading to the Sitting Bull killing is described. The incessant quest to establish and maintain control and the integral roles played by fear and…

This interview with Chickasaw novelist and poet Linda Hogan discusses creativity and the composing process, her new novel "Mean Spirit," the complications of identity and personal history for two female mixed-blood writers (interviewer and interviewee), and how considerations of audience impact (or shouldn't impact) American Indian writers. (SV)