Sherman Alexie Summary

Winner of Washington State Arts Commission poetry and National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowships, Sherman Alexie (born 1966) has published poems, stories, translations, and several books.Sherm... Read more

Sherman Alexie is the "Indian du jour" of the mainstream publishing industry, as he notes in his 1995 Tonic interview with Kelly Myers. Alexie has published seven books and three chapbooks in less tha... Read more

Sherman Alexie's writing has attracted a broad spectrum of readers in a relatively brief span. During his first eight years in publishing, Alexie was awarded the Washington State Arts Commission Poetr... Read more

In the essay below, Kuo describes the wide range of cultural references in Alexie's prose and verse. Sherman Alexie's territory, as he describes in these forty poems and five stories ... Read more

In the following review of First Indian on the Moon, Bruchac explores Alexie's evolution as a writer. Few young writers have burst onto the scene with as much praise as Sherman Alexie. His f... Read more

Below, Beschta surveys Native American themes in First Indian on the Moon. [First Indian on the Moon] opens with "Influences," a poem of the survival of young Indian children in the f... Read more

In the review below, Baxter discusses elements of realism and imagination in Alexie's Old Shirts & New Skins, First Indian on the Moon, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. ... Read more

In the following review of Reservation Blues, Busch comments on narrative structures in the work. To read about Native American reservation life is usually to read about illness and despair. Fictio... Read more

In the following review of Old Shirts & New Skins, the critic praises Alexie's verse for "capturing the full range of modern Native [American experience."] [In Old Shirts a... Read more

In the following review of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the critic lauds Alexie's short stories as exemplary products of the author's potent imagination. Known prima... Read more

In the following review of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Schneider briefly examines Alexie's narrative voice. Each of the twenty-two stories in Sherman Alexie's colle... Read more

In the following review of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sides examines how Alexie uses storytelling to help rescue his tribe and his culture from oblivion. Reading Sherman Alexie&... Read more

In the following excerpt, Ullman offers a positive assessment of the equivocal and metaphysical nature of The Business of Fancydancing. Sherman Alexie's collection of poems and stories [in T... Read more

In the following review, Berner offers a positive assessment of The Summer of Black Widows, commenting favorably on Alexie's portrayal of the true Native-American cultural experience and his us... Read more

In the following excerpt, McFarland examines the polemic nature of Alexie's writing and his unique poetic form. When a new poet [Sherman Alexie] comes on the scene, it is “both fittin... Read more

In the following review, Gorra offers a negative assessment of Reservation Blues, focusing on Alexie's failure to blend humor with drama and his overly didactic tone. In Indian Killer, Sherm... Read more

In the following review, Georgakas offers a positive assessment of Smoke Signals, asserting that Alexie displays a unique ability to break from the traditional portrayal of modern American-Indian cult... Read more

In the following review, Penner comments on Alexie's exploration of the struggle for American-Indian cultural identity as experienced by the characters in The Toughest Indian in the World. T... Read more

In the following review, Oates explores the search for ethnicity undertaken by the characters in The Toughest Indian in the World. What is an Indian? runs through Sherman Alexie's second col... Read more

In the following essay, Gillan examines Alexie's work and comments on its focus on an anglicized version of American-Indian history and tradition. When David Bell, the protagonist in Don DeL... Read more

In the following review, Meredith examines the incorporeal motifs and the spiritual importance of the reservation in Reservation Blues. The art of Sherman Alexie surprises and delights the reader a... Read more

In the following review, Bell explores the rage experienced by the Native-American characters due to the loss of their cultural identity in Indian Killer. Over the course of writing several novels,... Read more

In the following review, Stocking offers a brief review of I Would Steal Horses and Old Shirts & New Skins. Sherman Alexie has two new volumes: I Would Steal Horses (Slipstream) Old Shirts &... Read more

In the following essay, Gillan traces the influences of popular video culture on the content and structure of Sherman's storytelling in poetry and prose. When David Bell, the protagonist in ... Read more

In the following interview, Alexie discusses his literary and film projects and talks about Native American literature and popular culture. On a rare sunny Seattle day, Sherman Alexie's mana... Read more

In the following essay, Evans discusses Alexie's depiction of contemporary reservation life in his poetry and fiction. Ironic and satiric impulses consistently suffuse the tone, structure, r... Read more

Sherman Alexie illustrates a subtle sarcasm that is very consistent among his stories. He conveys many of the current social issues that seem to be constant among those of Indian heritage. His main c... Read more