Criticism > Poetry > Erdrich, Louise - James McKenzie (review date spring 1985)

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James McKenzie (review date spring 1985)

SOURCE: McKenzie, James. Review of Jacklight. North Dakota Quarterly 53, no. 2 (spring 1985): 257-9.

[In the following review, McKenzie asserts that Erdrich's first volume of poetry successfully portrays North Dakota's varied population of “ordinary” people of both Native and European American heritage.]

The new North Dakota license plate blends romantic figures from the state's territorial past (Sakajawea, the Seventh Cavalry, Teddy Roosevelt) with objects from its present (a curve of highway, a farm silo, the capitol tower) to form what must be the most complicated image on any of the fifty states' license plates. Old Glory, in the middle of the montage, doubling as Teddy's gesticulating arm and a backdrop for Custer's unit, draws the hodgepodge together. It is a cluttered logo, though not without some power to stir. Teddy's bull head and upraised, scolding finger suggest he is...

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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