ENGL 385(S) Indian Fictions*
This is a course about the relationship between (mostly nineteenth-century) white fictions about American Indians and (mostly twentieth-century) American-Indian fictions about American Indians. By combining a study of racialist and culturalist representations of the Indian with a study of six major novels by Indians, the course will make it possible to consider in detail and with subtlety the dynamics of colonial/postcolonial discourse in the U.S. public sphere. Authors include James Fenimore Cooper, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Helen Hunt Jackson, Oliver La Farge, D'Arcy McNickle, N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, and Sherman Alexie. The primary texts will be supplemented by a set of critical and historical essays, ethnographies, photographs, and films. Requirements: pre-class email responses to readings, two short papers, and one longer paper. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150 (formerly 103). Enrollment limited to 25. (1800-1900)