Introduction


Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich is one of America’s most celebrated Native American authors. Born in 1954, she grew up in North Dakota, where her parents were teachers at the Bureau of Indian affairs. However, while the author is most closely identified as a Native American, Erdrich is actually of mixed race: her father is German, and her mother is Ojibwa and French. Her writing often reflects the struggle to claim a distinct identity in her multicultural world. Frequently, Erdrich’s novels deal with the cyclical nature of time, an important concept to Native Americans. Her characters often include a “trickster,” a mischievous troublemaker who makes appearances in the folktales of old. Before her solo success, Erdrich collaborated with her husband on children’s books. Some of her best-known novels include Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and The Antelope Wife.

Essential Facts

  1. Erdrich comes from a long line of storytellers. In a 1991 interview in Writer’s Digest, she said, “The people in our families made everything into a story. They love to tell a good story. People just sit and the stories start coming, one after another.”
  2. Louise Erdrich was in the first coeducational class at Dartmouth College in 1972. While at Dartmouth, Erdrich met and married professor Michael Dorris. The two remained married for many years but divorced in 1997. Sadly, Dorris committed suicide the following year.
  3. Erdrich says that she revises all of her work extensively and sometimes uses old journals to get ideas for her writing.
  4. Two of Erdrich’s most ardent admirers are Toni Morrison and Philip Roth. Of the novel Love Medicine, Morrison said, “The beauty of Love Medicine saves us from being devastated by its power.” Philip Roth has said her work is filled with “originality, authority, tenderness, and pitiless wild wit.”
  5. Erdrich has won several O. Henry Awards for her short stories, and several have been selected for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories anthologies.
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Louise Erdrich - Contemporary Literary Criticism
  2. Louise Erdrich - Critical Survey of Long Fiction
  3. Louise Erdrich - Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century
  4. Love Medicine Study Guide (eNotes)
  5. The Red Convertible Study Guide (eNotes)

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. Author Profile
  2. Baptism of Desire - Book Review
  3. Bidwell Ghost Study Guide
  4. Captivity - Masterplots II: Poetry
  5. Conversations with Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris
  6. Critical Survey of Poetry
  7. Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  8. Cyclopedia of World Authors
  9. Feminism in Literature
  10. Fleur - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  11. Fleur Study Guide
  12. Four Souls - Book Review
  13. Louise Erdrich
  14. Louise Erdrich - American Indian Ready Reference
  15. Louise Erdrich - Contemporary Literary Criticism
  16. Louise Erdrich - Critical Survey of Long Fiction
  17. Louise Erdrich - Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century
  18. Louise Erdrich - Poetry Criticism
  19. Love Medicine - Book Review
  20. Love Medicine - Contemporary Literary Criticism
  21. Love Medicine - Literary Characters
  22. Love Medicine - Masterplots II: American Fiction Series
  23. Love Medicine - Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series
  24. Love Medicine Study Guide (eNotes)
  25. Saint Marie - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  26. Saint Marie quickNotes
  27. Tales of Burning Love - Book Review
  28. Tales of Burning Love - Book Review
  29. Tales of Burning Love quickNotes
  30. The Antelope Wife - Book Review
  31. The Antelope Wife Criticism
  32. The Antelope Wife quickNotes
  33. The Beet Queen - Book Review
  34. The Beet Queen - Literary Characters
  35. The Beet Queen - Masterplots II: American Fiction Series
  36. The Beet Queen - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  37. The Beet Queen - Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series
  38. The Beet Queen quickNotes
  39. The Best American Short Stories 1993
  40. The Bingo Palace - Book Review
  41. The Bingo Palace - Book Review
  42. The Bingo Palace quickNotes
  43. The Crown of Columbus - Book Review
  44. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Book Review
  45. The Oxford Companion to American Literature Article on Louise Erdrich
  46. The Oxford Companion to English Literature Article on Louise Erdrich
  47. The Red Convertible - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  48. The Red Convertible Study Guide (eNotes)
  49. Tracks - Book Review
  50. Tracks - Literary Characters
  51. Tracks - Masterplots II: American Fiction Series
  52. Tracks - Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series
  53. Tracks quickNotes
  54. Where I Ought to Be - Book Review