Red, white, and Deleuze, the fiction of Louise Erdrich as a minor literature
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Date
1999-08-01T00:00:00Z
Authors
Russell, Colin John
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Abstract
As a product of two cultures, Euro-American and Native American, Louise Erdrich has access to the perspectives of both the majority and a very distinct minority in American society. In this paper, the ways in which the Native American perspective informs and structures her novels, 'Love Medicine', 'The Beet Queen', 'Tracks', ' The Bingo Palace', and 'Tales of Burning Love', are explored by considering Erdich's work as a minor literature, according to the criteria established by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in their book ' Kafka': 'Toward a Minor Literature'. The three criteria that define a minor literature are considered in turn. To explore the notion that the majority language is "deterritorialized," the concept of "Red English" and the tetralinguistic system of Henri Gobard are introduced. The political aspect of Erdrich's work is considered in her treatment of treaty negotiations, criminality, military service and tendencies toward or away from conformity with white culture. Closely related to the necessarily political nature of a minor literature is its equally necessary collective value. In this context, Erdrich uses Chippewa story-telling techniques, mythology and cosmology in her narrative structure, characterization and plot events. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)