-
A Novel of Old and New Americans
(summary)
In the following review, Marsh praises The Surrounded as a moving and dramatic first novel.
-
The War within the Indian
(summary)
In the review below, she presents a favorable assessment of The Surrounded. The Surrounded is a dramatic story, on a sombre theme, told in a sparse style which fits the body of the material like a skin. The scene is the Flathead reservation in Montana. The name of the place is translated 'The Surrounded,' because there, in years past, the Blackfeet surrounded many of the Salish and killed them. Mr. McNickle uses the name in metaphor, with the poetic, clearly defined symbolism which is characteristic of Indian thinking. Today, the Salish are surrounded by the white man's civilization and the white man's religion, neither comprehensible; and the blood of the white race flows in Salish veins. Happiest are the old people, living in the traditions and tales of the past, which become more vivid to them, seeming to take on flesh and a voice, as the time of the long sleep draws nearer. It is the young and especially the mixed bloods who are 'the surrounded.'
-
Half-Breed Hero
(summary)
The subject of McNickle's Indian Man, La Farge was considered an authority on Native-American culture and won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his first novel, Laughing Boy, which focuses on Navajo characters. Below, he provides a positive review of The Surrounded.
-
End of the Trail
(summary)
In the review below, Vorse praises The Surrounded for its honesty and insight.
-
Of the Authentic Indian
(summary)
In the excerpt below, the critic favorably reviews Runner in the Sun. We forget how ancient was the Indian in this land that we newcomers named America. Runner in the Sun, by a full-blooded American Indian, D'Arcy McNickle, takes us back to an Indian community in the canyon country some millennia before Columbus. An Indian boy named Salt is in trouble because he has an idea that offers salvation to the seven clans of White Rock Place at the cost of breaking with tradition.
-
A review of Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals
(summary)
In the following review, she discusses Native American Tribalism and its examination of Indian-white relations in the twentieth century.
-
Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals
(summary)
In the review below, she commends McNickle's inclusion of new concepts and events in Native American Tribalism. The second edition adds discussion of Canadian and Alaskan Indian history and includes proportionately much more information on recent events and contemporary circumstances.
-
Rejection: The Reluctant Return
(summary)
Larson is an American educator whose works frequently focus on the writings of Africans and Native Americans. In the following excerpt, he examines themes and symbolism in The Surrounded.
-
A review of Wind from an Enemy Sky
(summary)
In the review below, she judges Wind from an Enemy Sky moving and forceful, but inferior to The Surrounded.
-
The 'Map of the Mind': D'Arcy McNickle and the American Indian Novel
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, he examines the theme of misunderstanding between whites and Native Americans in Wind from an Enemy Sky.
-
D'Arcy McNickle: The Indian War That Never Ends, or the Incredible Survival of Tribalism
(summary)
In the following essay, Meli discusses the concept of tribalism in McNickle's works.
-
Politics and Culture in the Fiction of D'Arcy McNickle
(summary)
Ruppert is an educator and critic who specializes in Native-American studies. In the following essay, he compares Wind from an Enemy Sky to The Surrounded and Runner in the Sun, examining how these works reflect McNickle's definition of culture and opinions on social change.
-
Feather Boy's Promise: Sacred Geography and Environmental Ethics in D'Arcy McNickle's Wind from an Enemy Sky
(summary)
In the following excerpt from a paper originally presented at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Western Literature Association in October 1989, he explores Wind from an Enemy Sky in light of Native-American beliefs and folklore, concluding that McNickle's use of mythic elements transforms what otherwise would be a tragedy.
-
The Journey to the South
(summary)
In the following excerpt, he discusses McNickle's motives and methods for writing Runner in the Sun, and discusses the novel's themes and characters as they reflect Native storytelling conventions.
-
An introduction to The Hawk Is Hungry and Other Stories
(summary)
Hans is a German-born educator and critic who specializes in the study of Native-American cultures. In the essay below, she surveys McNickle's career and discusses the major themes of his short fiction.
-
Maps of the Mind: John Joseph Mathews and D'Arcy McNickle
(summary)
Owens discusses the clash of opposing Native-American and 'Euramerican' cultures and the disabling result of European paternalism toward Native Americans in The Surrounded.