Great Short Stories by Contemporary Native American Writers

I'd never read anything by any of these authors, and overall I enjoyed the stories. None of the stories were overly long, which was a positive - I like to read either short short stories or actual novels - I'm not a huge fan of long "short" stories.

This was a great short story anthology but I have a problem with the term ‘contemporary’. This is most likely a personal thing, but when I hear the word ‘contemporary’ in conjunction with literature, I don’t envision it including authors from the 19th century, or the first half of the 20th century.

My favorites were Crow’s Sun by Duane Niatum, The Dog Pit by Eli Funaro, and War Dances by Sherman Alexie. I highly recommend this book of short stories for anyone looking to read the works of Native American authors.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

By Pauline Johnson, Zitkala-Sa, John M. Oskison, D'Arcy McNickle, Leslie Marmon Silko, Joseph Bruchac III, Jack D. Forbes, Rayna Green, Mary TallMountain, Duane Niatum, Thomas King, Eli Funaro, Beth H. Piatote, Sherman Alexie Edited by Bob Blaisdell Available now from Dover Thrift Editions Review copy

GREAT SHORT STORIES BY CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN WRITERS is an extremely affordable and accessible anthology from Dover Publications that delivers exactly what the title promises. The fourteen stories included range from 1893 (Pauline Johnson) to 2009 (Sherman Alexie). I was familiar with two of the authors, Alexie and Joseph Bruchac III, but the others were all new to me. I really appreciated the biographical notes by editor Bob Blaisdell that preceded each story. These notes tell of the authors' tribal backgrounds and provide some context for the stories.

The stories tend toward the shorter side - "War Dances" by Sherman Alexie is the longest story included. It is a standout story, however. I've read quite a bit of Alexie, but I think I enjoyed one of his stories even more when it was surrounded by different authors. It felt like I was coming into his (morbid, funny) voice fresh.

As for the other authors, I loved that both men and women were included. I find that survey anthologies such as GREAT SHORT STORIES BY CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN WRITERS tend to lose women's voices along the way, so I was happy to see them included. In fact, a woman kicks the anthology, which is organized chronologically, off. "A Red Girl's Reasoning" is a terrific tale of pride and rage and a relationship destroyed by a difference in culture.

Editor Bob Blaisdell stretches the word "contemporary" to the breaking point, but I enjoyed seeing the progression through time. D'Arcy McNickle uses a white narrator for "Train Time," imagining the regrets of someone who thinks he's doing the right thing, but can't find the words to explain himself. Many of the stories, such as Jack D. Forbes's very brief "Only Approved Indians Can Play Made in USA," are utterly hilarious in a funny not funny way.

If you're looking for stories of the life of some modern Native Americans, this is a terrific anthology. I'm certainly planning to pick up some more work by many of these authors in the future, and none of the stories were duds. Nor did anything in GREAT SHORT STORIES BY CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN WRITERS feel like a lecture. This is pure good writing, just with some extra cultural interest.

Coming across this superb collection I had only ever heard of Leslie Marmon Silko (for her well-known novel Ceremony) and Sherman Alexie (who is the only one here I’ve previously read. I am a fan of Alexie’s work, not because he is a Native American or because that is what he writes about, but simply because of his relevance, strong voice, and enjoyable stories. Yet, when ‘contemporary Native American writer’ comes to mind, it is him I think of. He, and his work, become defined in my mind as some kind of representative context.

When I saw this title available on NetGalley I immediately considered it a possibility to discover other Native American writers with viewpoints and voices distinct from Alexie’s. His “War Dances”, included here, I had previously read and enjoyed, and reading it again in the context of these companion stories was particularly enlightening.

The first stories included stretch the definition of ‘contemporary’ in terms of their date of composition. Reading them, however, shows that the themes addressed therein have remained relevant today. From the start the stories in this collection address the question of cultural and personal identity. “A Red Girl’s Reasoning” for instance addresses the difficulties inherent in cross-cultural marriage, a mixture here of physical race and of tradition, including those religious. Pauline Johnson’s poignant tale of a determined, proud woman is a fantastic start for the collection, showing that the issues raised through these stories regarding identity and societal classifications is not only inherent to Native Americans, but to those of other minority status or those trying to exist in mixed, sometimes clashing cultures. The thread of these issues continues throughout the stories (and time) here, bookended with Alexie’s “War Dances” where confusion over identity and shared characteristics between different minority groups is given voice in difficulty distinguishing Native American from Hispanic.

The voices and points of view vary throughout the collection – and even include the question of Native American identity through the eyes of a white narrator in McNickle’s “Train Time”. Forbes story stuck out to me as the most similar to Alexie’s voice with a mixture of depressing honesty and joyous laughter at the absurd. I’m reminded that I really need to read more of Silko’s work (Ceremony is also discussed in detail in a fascinating work on Race in Science Fiction that I’ve just read). And several of the authors here I’ll have to look up to try to find more from them if possible, particularly Piatote and Bruchac, whose stories stuck in my mind with their quiet power.

That idea of ‘quiet power’ is present throughout the collection, there is a rage and frustration building beneath the characters in the stories as they struggle to define their identity and place, to keep a part of themselves in a world that holds them either in disdain or disregard. “Borders”, describing the attempts of an elderly Native American woman to cross between the United States and Canada while still holding onto self-declaration as a citizen of a tribe and people rather than either of these modern nations, takes this issue and makes it literal.

In one aspect the collection was a surprise to me. I started it thinking that it would contain stories about Native American culture, that I would learn more about particular tribes and their traditions. Instead, the stories here are about Native American culture in existence within the European – in relation to something else, rather than the identity they have unto their own. I imagine that such are the struggles of being Native American and what is going to be present in any honest contemporary Native American writer’s work. I can never fully understand being Native American because that’s just not what I am. But I find it a horrible and lamentable reality that perhaps even Native Americans can’t really achieve it, for does that identity even still exist? It makes me feel a bit rage-filled, and perhaps that is the point and an indication of how effective and truly great these short stories are.

GREAT SHORT STORIES BY CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN WRITERS is an outstanding collection, and at such an affordable price as this thrift edition offers, it is something that anyone interested in short fiction or in aspects of cultural identity should pick up.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It opened me up to new writers.