by: Ellen C. Caldwell
for JSTOR Daily
Writer, filmmaker, and poet Sherman Alexie turns 50 today. Alexie is known for his wide range of works, including the National Book Award winners The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, Alexie often uses his work to address life on and off the reservation, usually deconstructing and playing with age-old stereotypes.
In a 1996 interview, Alexie discusses how his first book of poems was published when he was 24, and shares his surprise when he found out that the New York Times reviewed it, calling Alexie “one of the major lyric voices of our time.” He went on to sign a two-book deal, promising one book of short stories and a then-unwritten novel, which would turn out to be the massively popular Reservation Blues.
In “Sherman Alexie’s Indigenous Blues,” Douglas Ford parses Alexie’s use of the blues, analyzing not only Alexie’s work, but also of the literary journey he embarks upon with his readers. In Ford’s words, Alexie “bridges two different American experiences, African and Indian, and, in so doing, also helps bridge discourses.” In turn, Alexie’s work functions at what Ford describes as “a series of crossroads” or a “ cultural intersection.”…