American Indian Literatures
- Author: A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff
- Pages: viii + 200
- Published: 1990
- ISBN: 9780873521918 (Hardcover)
“The most comprehensive introduction currently available to the genres and major authors of native American oral and written literature.”
—Booklist
“An essential introductory work for researchers and teachers new to Native American literatures and a helpful source for scholars in the field.”
—College Literature
“The first thing likely to strike the reader upon opening LaVonne Ruoff’s new volume is the range, variety, and richness of American Indian literatures . . . Well-conceived and executed, [the book] will be welcomed by students and teachers who are approaching the subject for the first time.”
—Studies in American Indian Literature
American Indian Literatures is a thorough guide to the genres and major authors of both oral and written literatures and to scholarship in the field.
An introductory section describes types of oral literatures and life histories, provides a history of Native American literature from 1772 to the present, and reprints many excerpts from the texts under discussion. The second section of the volume evaluates bibliographies and research guides; anthologies, collections, and re-creations; and scholarship and criticism. An extensive selected bibliography, a list of important dates in American Indian history, and an index conclude the book.
