Comparative Native American Language

Published in association with the British Association for American Studies, this innovative series has become an indispensable collection in American Studies. Each volume tackles an important area and is written by an accepted academic expert within the discipline. Books selected for the series are clearly written introductions designed to offer students definitive short surveys of key topics in the field.This introduction to contemporary Native American literature is suitable for students with little or no knowledge of the subject, or of Native American culture or history.It examines influential texts in the context of the historical moment of their production, with reference to significant developments within mainstream and ethnic American literature. Most importantly, Native literature is assessed within the wider socio-political context of American colonialism, the history of Federal-Indian relations and policies, popular perceptions of 'Indians', and contemporary Native economic, social, and political realities.A survey of early Native literature provides the framework, but the focus is primarily on late twentieth century writings, beginning with the moment that is widely defined as marking the 'renaissance' of contemporary Native American literature: the awarding of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize to the Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday for his novel "House Made of Dawn".The subsequent analysis of key writers and texts includes a biography and brief bibliographical survey of each writer's work, and a detailed analysis of one text considered to be particularly important in the field. The study concludes with an overview of current developments and emerging writers.