The Turn to the Native: Studies in Criticism and Culture

The Turn to the Native is a timely account of Native American literature and the critical writings that have grown up around it. Arnold Krupat considers racial and cultural essentialism, the ambiguous position of non-Native critics in the field, cultural sovereignty and property, and the place of Native American culture in a so-called multicultural era. Chapters follow on the relationship of Native American culture to postcolonial writing and postmodernism. Krupat comments on the recent work of numerous Native writers. The final chapter, A Nice Jewish Boy among the Indians, presents the author’s effort to balance his Jewish and working-class heritage, his adherence to Western critical ideals, and his ongoing loyalty to the values of Native cultures.