Indians, Environment, and Identity on the Borders of American Literature: From Faulkner and Morrison to Walker and Silko (American Literature Readings in the Twenty-First Century)

Indians, Environment, and Identity on the Borders of American Literature foregrounds amalgamation among American Indians, African Americans, and Euramericans as a central feature of American literature. The authors discussed, including James Fenimore Cooper, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Leslie Marmon Silko, place this cross-cultural contact in nature, not only collapsing cultural and racial boundaries, but also complicating divisions between “wilderness” and “civilization.” Responding to contemporary theoretical approaches to race, culture, and nationhood, this book points toward the multiple perspectives and cultures that distinguish American literature. Smith highlights the role of geography in these critical discourses, forging a connection between ecological theory and ethnic studies.