The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature - Essential overview

Sep 20, 2026

Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature traces how American Indian literature written in English has gained recognition from the late eighteenth century onward. The volume maps this trajectory through institutional, historical, cultural, and gender contexts, surveys major genres since the 1770s, and highlights influential authors across key decades from the 1970s to the 1990s. It brings together seventeen expert chapters, bio-bibliographies of forty authors, maps, further reading suggestions, and a detailed timeline of major works and major social, cultural, and historical events.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages354

Reading Time9 h 5 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Timeline: literary, historical, and cultural conjunctions

Part I Historical and cultural contexts

Historical and cultural contexts to Native American literature

Translation and mediation

Women writers and gender issues

Part II Genre contexts

Non-fiction prose

Native American life writing

America’s indigenous poetry

Pre-1968 fiction

Fiction: 1968 to the present

American Indian theatre

Part III Individual authors

N. Scott Momaday: becoming the bear

Simon Ortiz: writing home

James Welch: identity, circumstance, and chance

Leslie Marmon Silko: storyteller

Gerald Vizenor: postindian liberation

Louise Erdrich’s storied universe

Joy Harjo’s poetry

Sherman Alexie: irony, intimacy, and agency

Bio-bibliographies

Further reading

Index

The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature Invisible, marginal, expected – these words trace the path of recognition for American Indian literature written in English since the late eighteenth century. This Companion chronicles and celebrates that trajectory by defining relevant institutional, historical, cultural, and gender contexts, by outlining the variety of genres written since the 1770s, and also by focusing on significant authors who established a place for Native literature in literary canons in the 1970s (Momaday, Silko, Welch, Ortiz, Vizenor), achieved international recognition in the 1980s (Erdrich), and performance-celebrity status in the 1990s (Harjo and Alexie) . In addition to the seventeen chapters written by respected experts – Native and non-Native; American, British, and European scholars, the Companion includes bio-bibliographies of forty authors, maps, suggestions for further reading, and a timeline which details major works of Native American literature and mainstream American literature, as well as significant social, cultural, and historical events. An essential overview of this powerful literature. JOY PORTE R is a lecturer in the Department of American Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea, UK where she teaches American and Native American history and literature. Previously she was Senior Lecturer in American History at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge. She is the author of To Be Indian: the Life of Seneca-Iroquois Arthur Caswell Parker, 1881–1955 (2002) . Her work can be found in a variety of books such as The State of US History (Berg 2002 ) and journals such as New York History and Presidential Studies Quarterly. Her next book is Native American Freemasonry, the research for which is supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. KENNETH M . ROEMER , an Academy of Distinguished Teachers Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, has received four NEH grants to Direct Summer Seminars and has been a Visiting Professor in Japan, a guest lecturer at Harvard, and lectured in Vienna, Lisbon, Brazil, and Turkey. His articles have appeared in journals such as American Literature, American Literary History, and Modern Fiction Studies. His Approaches to Teaching Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain (ed.) was published by the MLA; his Native American Writers of the United States (ed.) won a Writer of Year Award from Wordcraft Circle. He has written four books on utopian literature, including The Obsolete Necessity and Utopian Audience. His collection of personal narratives, verse, and photography about Japan is entitled Michibata de Deatta Nippon (A Sidewalker’s Japan) . THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE EDITED BY JOY PORTER and KENNETH M . ROEMER CAMBRIDGE UNIVER SITY PRE SS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜ o Paulo CAMBRIDGE UNIVER SITY PRE SS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York [www.cambridge.org](www.cambridge.org) Information on this [title: www.cambridge.org/](title: www.cambridge.org/9780521529792)[9780521529792](title: www.cambridge.org/9780521529792) \# Cambridge University Press 2005 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2005 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13 978-0-521-82283-1 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-82283-1 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-52979-2 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-52979-4 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarante

FAQs

What does the companion emphasize about Native American literature written in English?

It follows the recognition path of American Indian literature from the late eighteenth century, situating it in institutional, historical, cultural, and gender contexts and tracing genre development since the 1770s.

How is the book organized?

It includes seventeen chapters by experts plus supporting materials such as bio-bibliographies, maps, further reading suggestions, and a timeline that links Native literature works with broader social, cultural, and historical events.

Which authors are highlighted as major figures in this companion?

The contents list prominent authors including Momaday, Silko, Welch, Ortiz, Vizenor, Erdrich, Joy Harjo, and Sherman Alexie, each addressed through dedicated chapter topics.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Seraphina