Criticism > Poetry > Erdrich, Louise - Carolyn Dunn (review date 1993)

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Carolyn Dunn (review date 1993)

SOURCE: Dunn, Carolyn. Review of Baptism of Desire. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 17, no. 3 (1993): 188-93.

[In the following review, Dunn offers a critical overview of the poems contained in Baptism of Desire.]

When classifying American Indian literature, literary critics seek to define just what is distinctly Indian about these writers. Most of the writers today come from varied tribal and nontribal backgrounds, so it is difficult to categorize Indian writers under that simple heading: Indian. Male writers tend to explore themes of ritualistic death and rebirth through a communion within the community; female writers tend to look outward in terms of the whole community, centering on female cyclical rituals of rebirth/death/regeneration and survival of their future generations. Broad themes of anger and isolation are common threads in the work of both male and female writers. But...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Louise Erdrich and Jan George (interview date spring 1985)
   2. James McKenzie (review date spring 1985)
   3. Vernon Shetley (review date April 1985)
   4. Richard K. Waters (review date 1985)
   5. Michael Loudon (review date winter 1986)
   6. Elaine Jahner (review date 1986)
   7. Louise Erdrich and Miriam Berkley (interview date 15 August 1986)
   8. Louise Erdrich and Joseph Bruchac (interview date 1987)
   9. Helen Jaskoski (review date winter 1991)
   10. Carolyn Dunn (review date 1993)
   11. P. Jane Hafen (essay date summer 1996)
   12. Robin Riley Fast (essay date 1999)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. Louise Erdrich
2. How to Analyze a Poem
3. Poetry