ENGLISH 360
WEEK 1
SHERMAN ALEXIE: BIOGRAPHY
•
•
•
•
•
Born October 1966 on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington.
Born hydrocephalic (which means with water on the brain). Alexie underwent a brain operation at
the age of 6 months and was not expected to survive. After surgery, doctors expected him to
suffer from mental retardation. However he overcame the odds, and was reading The Grapes of
Wrath by age five.
In 1985, he graduated from Reardan High, where he was the only Indian. He then attended
Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
Won the Washington State Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship in 1991 and the National
Endowment for the arts Poetry Fellowship in 1992.
He now lives with his wife and two kids in Seattle.
PUBLICATIONS
• Had a severe problem with addiction to alcohol, but after his books were published he stopped
drinking; he is a devout Catholic, and credits the church and his family for helping him stay
sober.
• He published seven books of poetry two novels, two screenplays and several short story
collections
First two poetry collections that were published were The Business of Fancydancing and I Would
Steal Horses.
• His first collection of short stories was The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and
received a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction. He was also awarded a Lila
Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award.
 “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”1993 (Short stories)
 Novels. Lone Ranger and Tonto clip
 “Reservation Blues” 1995.
 “Indian Killer” 1996.
 Readings and stand-up comedy.
 Recorded with musician Jim Boyd
 Film “Smoke Signals” based on short story: trailer:
Fathers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QutfN2wb1wc
Fry Bread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TgT-B9qLq8&feature=related
AWARDS:
 1991- Washington State Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship.
 1992 – National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship.
 Two books of poetry.
 Only poet to hold the World Heavyweight Poetry Bout for four consecutive years.
SPOKANE INDIANS OF WASHINGTON STATE
Chapelle on Indians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teq8-3Xitxc&feature=related
TITLE OF BOOK: a play on the children’s nursery rHyme, “Ten Little Indians”
¨Ten little Injuns standin' in a line, One toddled home and then there were nine;
¨Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate, One tumbled off and then there were eight.
¨Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n, One went to sleep and then there were seven;
¨Seven little Injuns cuttin' up their tricks, One broke his neck and then there were six.
¨Six little Injuns all alive, One kicked the bucket and then there were five;
¨Five little Injuns on a cellar door, One tumbled in and then there were four.
¨Four little Injuns up on a spree, One got fuddled and then there were three;
¨Three little Injuns out on a canoe, One tumbled overboard and then there were two.
¨Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun, One shot t'other and then there was one;
¨One little Injun livin' all alone, He got married and then there were none.
AND HERE’S THE OFFICIAL HISTORY: http://www.spokanetribe.com/
“The Spokane Tribes‘ current home is located in Wellpinit, Washington. We are surrounded by
nature's beautiful lakes, trees and mountains.” “Today the Spokane Indian Reservation is
157,376 acres in size. As of January 2006, tribal membership includes 2441 people; we are
strong and growing.
The Spokane Reservation/History
• Historically, the Spokane Tribe lived in seasonal camps. They fished salmon, hunted and gathered
berries and roots
• Currently many of the tribe members work in the mining and logging industries. Others help to
run the tribe itself, administering social services or running the tribal government.






Spokane means “children of the sun.”
Consists of 154,000 acres in eastern Washington on the Columbia River Plateau.
They believed in Great Spirit and animal spirits.
Their way of life consisted of fishing, hunting, and gathering endeavors.
Their shelters were coned-shaped huts.
President Hayes formally declared the territory a reservation by executive order in January 1881.

BEGIN, AFTER A BRIEF INTRO WITH THIS:
Play Interview (need to download- takes a minute or so…)
To The Best of Our Knowledge (What makes a "real" Indian?):
http://wpr.org/book/070520a.html (about 15 mins)
“THE SEARCH ENGINE”: NOTES FOR MYSELF….
 Corliss- 19 year old Spokane Indian college student at Washington
 State University.
Despite her family’s disapproval, Corliss was determined to pursue poetry because she felt so
strongly about it.
• “She knew her family feared poetry, but they didn’t fear it because they were Indian. The fear of
poetry was multicultural and timeless. So maybe she loved poetry precisely because so many
people feared it. Maybe she wanted to frighten people with the size of her poetic love.” (Alexie
13)
•“You shouldn’t be reading that stuff. It will pollute your heart.” (Alexie 14)
•
•
“…So maybe her beauty was eccentric, even exotic. And exoticism was hard to find in Pullman,
Washington.” (4)
Lives alone: WHY SO? Her explanations are hilarious….
•
•
•
•
•
Romanticizing Indians
Corliss talks about how she does not want a white roommate because they romanticize Indians
too much.
“White people looked at the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the full moon, newborn babies, and
Indians with the same goofy sentimentalism.” (11)
Alexie talks about how Indian Warriors were portrayed in movies and how they seemed so
romantic even though they weren’t Indian at all.
“I cringed when Philbert and Buddy Red Bow waded into a stream and sang Indian songs to the
moon.”
“I mean, I knew I could never be as brave, as strong, as wiser as visionary, as white as the Indians
in the movies.”
Corliss and poetry
• Her comments about the man who quotes poetry to get the girls
– Makes Corliss take out Auden book, and almost drop Atwater book on her head
Corliss and her love for books/poetry:
•“Corliss wanted to read herself to death. She wanted to be buried in a coffin filled with used
paperbacks.” (5)
•“She loved books. How could she not worry about the unread? She felt like a disorganized scholar,
an inconsiderate lover, an abusive mother, and a cowardly solider.” (8)
•“She felt giddy, foolish, and strangely aroused, as if she were running home to read pornography.”
(12)
•“So maybe she loved poetry precisely because so many people feared it.” (13)
•Words had always been her weapon, her offense and defense.” (52)
BUT: Afraid of writing poems…why so?
CORLISS makes some jugements and clarifications:
•“Honey, get yourself some contacts and a pair of leather chaps! Fight your stereotypes!” (7)
•On living alone: “It’s tough to share a bathroom with an Indian and continue to romanticize her”
“She knew there would come a day when white folks finally understood that Indians are every bit
as relentlessly boring, selfish, and smelly as they are, and that would be a wonderful day for
human rights but a terrible day for Corliss.” (11)
• She feels more like a white, Jesuit priest (Gerald Manly Hopkins), than any “Spokane” – why sp?
What does this tell us about reading, and the possibility of “affiliative” connections that reading
(and modernity) offers us, rather than inherited identities? “How could she tell her Indian family
she sometimes felt like a white Jesuit priest?..Who would ever understand how a nineteen year
old Indian woman looked in the mirror and sometimes saw an old white man in a white collar and
black robe? (15)
•“She wasn’t supposed to be in college and she wasn’t supposed to be as smart as she was and she
wasn’t supposed to read the books she read and she wasn’t supposed to say the things she said.
She was too young and too female and too Indian to be that smart.”(41)
Corliss and her family
• Reading the “white books” – family threatened by her education: why?
• “How are you going to get a job with poems?” – Corliss’ mother
• “waiting tables or changing oil”
• First to go to college
Corliss as an Indian, and a poet:
•
Thrilled by the prospect of a Spokane poet
•
Never travelled more than 110 miles from where she grew up, but has large ideas and ambitions
that aren’t fully acknowledged and accepted by tribe
•
Both Corliss and Atwater both struggle with what make someone an Indian. Is it simply being
born Indian or do you have to actively engage in Indian culture and live on the reservation?
Wants to find a connection with someone else that is like her such as Harlan Atwater.
Harlan Atwater and identity/sense of belonging.
–“The Naming Ceremony” (6-7)
–“He wanted to be faceless and anonymous because he was faceless and anonymous. He didn’t know
her real name, and she didn’t know his.” (46)
–“I am a poet!’ He screamed to the assembled Indians.” (47)
–Never find out Harlan Atwater’s real name.
–“But he wanted to be part of their tribe…He asked them if he was Indian, and they said he was the
best Indian they’d ever known, and he was happy to hear it.” (47)
–“I started writing poems to feel like I belonged,’ he said. ‘To feel more Indian.” (41)
•
Corliss is finally content in knowing Atwater's true story and decides to stop pursuing it any
further.
Identity issues:
•“If white folks assumed she was serene and spiritual and wise simply because she was an Indian, and
thought she was special based on those mistaken assumptions, then Corliss saw no reason to
contradict them.” (11)
•“White people, no matter how smart, were too romantic about Indians.” (11)
•“Indians loved to think of themselves as the best storytellers in the world, and maybe they were, but
did they need to be so sure of it?” (13)
•“They looked at me onstage, looking as Indian as I do, with my dark skin and long hair and big nose
and cheekbones, and they didn’t know my poems were just pretend.” (42)
THE CONTRADICTIONS she offers (why offer contradictions?):
* Learns that Atwater’s birth mother was a crack addict and being adopted by “white” people
could have been the best thing for him.
•“These men bragged about their spouses’ accomplishments: Ha, my woman just got a raise! My
honey makes more money than your honey…Nah, I ain’t threatened by her! I’m challenged!”
(15-16)
•“We’ll send all the tribal councilmen to the golf courses and let the smart women run the show. I’ll
tell you what. My daughter is going to save our tribe.” (16)
•After Corliss graduates from college and gets her law degree, she’s going to move back to the
reservation and fix what’s wrong. We men have had our chances, I’ll tell you what.” (16)