Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Alexie, Sherman (Vol. 96) - James Beschta (review date May 1994)

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James Beschta (review date May 1994)

SOURCE: A review of First Indian on the Moon, in Kliatt, Vol. 28, No. 3, May, 1994, p. 23.

[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 face of the alcoholism that dominates their parents, their reservation, their world. That theme of Indian survival in a hostile environment is constant throughout the book, as is the alcoholism, depression and poverty of the reservation system. Through varying situations and scenes, these pieces are connected by their reaction to the establishment which has systematically abused Native Americans. Not so long ago, this would have been labeled "protest poetry" in its reaction to a perceived political agenda.

      Children, the enemy reads us the news
      at 6 o'clock every...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Alex Kuo (essay date 1992)
   2. Publishers Weekly (review date 1 February 1993)
   3. The New Yorker (essay date 10 May 1993)
   4. Sybil S. Steinberg (review date 19 July 1993)
   5. Andrea-Bess Baxter (review date August 1993)
   6. Brian Schneider (review date Fall 1993)
   7. Reynolds Price (review date 17 October 1993)
   8. Anne Goodwin Sides (review date 17 October 1993)
   9. Publishers Weekly (review date 8 November 1993)
   10. Frank Allen (review date 15 November 1993)
   11. Joseph Bruchac (review date Winter 1994)
   12. Alan R. Velie (review date Spring 1994)
   13. James Beschta (review date May 1994)
   14. Carl L. Bankston III (review date May-June 1994)
   15. Andrea-Bess Baxter (review date November 1994)
   16. Leslie Marmon Silko (review date 12 June 1995)
   17. Frederick Busch (review date 16 July 1995)
   18. Abigail Davis (review date July-August 1995)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. Sherman Alexie