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Between Two Worlds: Commentary on James Welch's Heartsong of Charging Elk |
| Section: BOOK WORLD / COMMENTARY |
| Author: James Ruppert |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2001 |
| Size: 3,049 Words, 16,995 Characters |
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Few contemporary Native American writers are willing to tackle the historical novel, but James Welch does so with as sure a pen as any author could wish. Other native writers have remarked that they choose to avoid the historical Indian because of the monumental task of deconstructing American stereotypes. The stoic, mystical Plains warrior has been such an icon that one might expend too much energy in iconoclastic efforts and have little time left for original narrative. Welch seems to have risen to the challenge, however, with The Heartsong of Charging Elk, a human and engaging story of a young man's search to find a place for himself in the complex mix of fin de sicle American, Sioux, and French cultures.
Building on the success of his other historical novel, Fools Crow, and his e...
. . .
...nner that makes it play to the world. Rather than pigeonhole his fiction, Welch insists on a global vision with a native perspective. Dreams and visions can come to one in France as well as in a sweat lodge.
While the novel is set in the past, Welch clearly sees a future where cultural negotiation will be commonplace and all our definitions of freedom and tradition will be challenged.
(806 of 16,995 characters)
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