The word interdisciplinary seems to have been invented just for Michael Dorris: his writing embraces both fiction and nonfiction, the themes are personal and political, and his concerns are for the in...
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In his fiction, scholarly and popular nonfiction, and poetry Michael Dorris repeatedly returns to a few major themes: the centrality of family relationships, the renarrating of American history from N...
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[In the following obituary, the writer summarizes Dorris's literary achievements.]
Michael Dorris, who told the story of his adopted son's battle with fetal alcohol syndrome in his award...
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[The following obituary focuses on the legacy of Dorris's life and works.]
Writer Michael Dorris, whose book about raising a brain-damaged child, The Broken Cord, brought international attentio...
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[Below, Lyman recounts Dorris's literary career and personal life, noting his relationship with Erdrich, his academic colleagues, and professional associations.]
Michael Dorris, a prolific nove...
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[In the obituary below, Streitfeld relates the shock that greeted news of Dorris's death.]
The literary world was shocked yesterday at the news that Michael Dorris, a novelist and nonfiction wr...
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[In the following excerpt of an essay devoted to Louise Erdrich's writings, Owens examines how Native American identity is constructed in Dorris's A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.]
Despite t...
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[In the following review, Guthrie asserts that "the alarming statistics and consequences of fetal alcohol syndrome are skillfully interwoven with the human story of one of its victims in The Br...
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[In the following excerpt, Lomas reviews The Broken Cord.]
Dorris's craving for fatherhood is so intense that he overcomes all obstacles to become the first single man in America to be granted ...
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[In the excerpt below, Milne reviews The Broken Cord and notes that Dorris "sees drinking as pre-natal child abuse."]
When Michael Dorris adopted an enchanting three-year-old Sioux child...
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[In the following review, McDermott considers the family values extolled in Morning Girl.]
Christopher Columbus is a mere postscript in Morning Girl, a lovely novel by the author of A Yellow Raft in B...
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[In the review below, Hansen addresses aspects of the "ordinary" represented in Working Men.]
Fiction writers have a natural fascination with ordinary jobs. Holed up alone in our offices...
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[Below, Ferraro applauds the characterization, narration, and attention to detail he observes in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water and Working Men.]
Michael Dorris's first novel, A Yellow Raft in Blu...
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[Below, Perkins offers a favorable assessment of Guests, noting that Dorris "weaves important moral themes—identity, responsibility, generosity—into his tale."]
In his seco...
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[In the following review, Lyons observes "the breath and richness of contemporary American culture" in Working Men and Paper Trail.]
In the current diminished relationship of literature ...
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[In the following review of Cloud Chamber, Houston concentrates on Dorris's storytelling technique.]
Michael Dorris' new novel, Cloud Chamber, confirms everything I suspected after readi...
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[In the review of Cloud Chamber below, Scofield comments on Dorris's vision of community.]
Readers who remember the quiet power of Michael Dorris' novel, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, wil...
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[In the following mixed review, Bradfield finds that Cloud Chamber "succeeds as a haunting reflection of Michael Dorris's humanitarian concerns; but as a compelling story about believabl...
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