Sovereign Stories

Padraig Kirwan is Lecturer in the Literature of the Americas at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published articles in NOVEL, Comparative Literature, the Journal of American Studies, and the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, and is co-editor of the volume Affecting Irishness: Negotiating Cultural Identity Within and Beyond the Nation (2009).

«In ‘Sovereign Stories’, Padraig Kirwan considers the notion of ‘aesthetic sovereignty’ and wades fully into some of the most controversial and complicated issues in Indigenous literature criticism today. The resulting readings are refreshing, incisive, often contentious, and always impressive. Kirwan’s study is a provocative, well-researched, and carefully considered scholarly contribution to the field, and all the more welcome for its intellectual generosity and fair-mindedness.» (Daniel Heath Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture, University of British Columbia)«‘Sovereign Stories’ takes many turns and pathways—all leading to the story of American Indian tribal sovereignty. It will teach on both sides of the big waters!» (LeAnne Howe, author of Choctalking on Other Realities).

• Contents: Who’s Afraid of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn? Nationalism and Voice in Aurelia – «Indigenous to the Land, an Immigrant to the Culture»: Sherman Alexie and the Third Space of Sovereignty – «All the Talk and All the Silence»: Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Boundaries in David Treuer’s Little – Portrait of the Artist: Authority, Autonomy, and Authorship in Louise Erdrich’s Shadow Tag – Choctalking: The Realities of Fiction in LeAnne Howe’s Shell Shaker – «Not a Chaotic Wake, Not an Empty Space»: The Future of Art, Life, and Criticism in the Work of Craig Womack and Greg Sarris.