Review
2010; University of Nebraska Press; Volume: 22; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5250/studamerindilite.22.2.89
ISSN1548-9590
Autores ResumoReviewed by: Shadow Tag Margaret Noori (bio) Louise Erdrich. Shadow Tag. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-196293-6. 255 pp. Pii zhinoomooiyangid ezhi-agawaatesidaaendamodiwaad gekinomagaazibimaadiziyaang. When she shows us how they cast shadows of sadness on one another, we become students of life. If only one line was an acceptable review of Louise Erdrich's new novel, Shadow Tag. Her latest contribution to American literature is best described by the compound, transitive, reflexive verbs of the Ojibwe language. It deserves a phrase laden with wide-open vowels tumbling over one another barely held together by consonants. It needs a description that erases the specific and focuses on acts exchanged between subjects and the audience. But this is America, and you are reading a literary journal, and so more must be said. These days it has become important to pause and determine in what ways some novels, by some authors, are Native, American, Indian, or perhaps even stem from tribally specific roots. Shadow Tag is undeniably contemporary American literature. It is the story of a postindustrial nuclear family disassembling despite attempts to give up alcohol and seek psychological advice. It is a tale broadly influenced by its time. With characters named for continents, quotations [End Page 89] from iconic American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a tie to the same Lead Belly blues, it is wrought in close connection to the literature of these United States. Any reader native to America will recognize the technological society activist, poet, and songwriter John Trudell describes as one comprised of "nihilistic desires, civil lies gone insane" (54). Shadow Tag is also an Indian novel, in the best sense of that word recently reclaimed by many, including the main characters, Irene and Gil, who listened to "dot-Indian" sitar music sometimes and their own "feather-Indian" music too (175). They are modern mixed-blood characters who publicly argue about their status as enrollees, and privately mourn their inability to "be Indian enough." Gil is the son of a Vietnam veteran. Irene is the daughter of AIM activists. They are representations and re-presenters of American Indian culture. They are both bound by ethnicity and directly benefit from its misunderstanding. Gil is an Indian artist, and Irene is an Indian maid. Their trades are icons for consumption in a world in which being Indian is no longer as easy as it once was. The novel is also clearly connected to the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe world of the Great Lakes and woodlands. Ojibwe literature takes many forms. There are the old-time oral tales told entirely in the language, something like Tommy Stillday's "Bajaaganish miinawaa Makizinish." These of course have direct descendants, their English translations. Modern updates to these stories might be the stepchildren of blended narratives. The rangy mixed-blood children of the present, an accurate description of many of Erdrich's novels, are Ojibwe tales of the present told first and only in English without apology, because that is the way of the world today. Last of all, some dare to whisper of a future where the stories circle back to the language and are told again first in Ojibwe, with more pronouns than possible in English and complete disregard for the noun. Shadow Tag is one of the mixed-bloods—a novel straddling two worldviews, not written in the tightly packed, alternate syntax of a verb-based language, but clearly dancing capably around themes that are Ojibwe. If a son in love with hockey does not scream "Ojibwe novel" to every reader, the mention of wiindigos and the unfolding of events [End Page 90] during the harshest months should be a clue. Wiindigos are selfish, cannibalistic, wicked creatures who are considered sometimes intentionally murderous, sometimes criminally insane, sometimes masochistic and suicidal. Stories of them vary, and the wise do not mention them often. They are not unique to the stories of Erdrich. Basil Johnston, Anne Dunn, Gerald Vizenor, Tomson Highway, Alanis King, Joseph Boyden, and many others who write from an Ojibwe/Anishinaabe perspective have included them in their cautionary tales. They are classic characters of the Anishinaabe. Most importantly, for those paying attention, they teach lessons. Irene recalls the...
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