Alexie's Literary Works

Sherman Alexie was born in October of 1966. He grew up in the Spokane Indian Reservation and this is where a lot of his works are from. He is a very talented writer. Alexie was a very smart child who read many novels at a very young age. By age 5, he was reading The Grapes of Wrath. He was much further advanced than the regular 5 year old.

He went to high school at Reardan High and he was the only Indian. He excelled academically and became a star player on the basketball team. This experience inspired his first young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Alexie excelled at writing and realized he'd found his new path. His first two poetry collections were The Business of Fancydancing and I Would Steal Horses.

Alexie struggled with drinking but overcame it by age 23. His first collection of short stories was The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Alexie has done readings, interviews, stand-up comedy, etc and he has also written poetry, screen plays, novels, short stories, anthropologies, and movies.

Most of Sherman Alexie’s novels and collections of short stories center around the Indian living in a white world and Indians on the Spokane Reservation. He usually includes humor to make light of very serious situations. To incorporate humor, he speaks of alcoholics, basketball, women, etc. Many of these works include heartbreak and sadness and Alexie is very good at making the serious aspects and humor fall together to make an amazing creation.

Short Story Collections:

1993- The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Summary: This collection has become one of the most popular themes of American Indian Literature. It is a collection of short stories about the Spokane Indian Reservation. It contains much criticized humor. Critics claim that Alexie “makes fun” of his own reservation and people by incorporating his use of humor. In many parts of the stories, Alexie speaks of Indians of the Spokane Reservation getting drunk and acting stupid and this is where people get off saying that he is making fun of the culture. To Alexie, it is his life and how he has interpreted things. He did not write about his culture in a negative way but he just believed that he was incorporating humor into his stories and making them more enjoyable. This novel focuses on family, friends, basketball, alcohol, and about anything a person could imagine. It comes together to create and fun and imaginable collection of short stories.

2003- Ten Little Indians

Summary: This is a collection of short stories that, like many of Alexie’s works, has Indians finding themselves at a crossroads about living as an Indian of the modern world. This collection talks of the struggles they had to go through to stay loyal to their culture. This is a more serious collection of stories than The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Ten Little Indians is said to be a very emotional and heart wrenching collection of stories.

2009- War Dances

Summary: “Heartbreaking and hilarious” at the same time. It is about ordinary people that are on the road to change. War Dances includes problems with alcohol and disease and comes together into many sad stories. It is said to bring about what it is actually like to be human. Again, Alexie uses his humor to make light of some serious situations.

Novels:

1995- Reservation Blues

Summary: Also speaks of the Spokane Indian Reservation. It is about a black stranger who appears and brings nothing with him. He turns out to be a famous bluesman, Robert Johnson, who everyone thought was dead. He passes his guitar to Thomas-Builds-the-Fire who is also in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. It is a story of Rock-and-Roll and Thomas-Builds-the-Fire’s travelling new band.

1996- Indian Killer

Summary: A story of a serial killer that is in Seattle, WA. These crimes have created much racial hatred and fear in many people. It is a story of John Smith who was born Indian but raised in a white setting. Indian Killer is a book of the revenge of the Indian to the white and the Indian Killer continues to take lives throughout the novel.

2000- The Toughest Indian in the World

Summary: This is different than much American Indian Literature because the Indians are “different.” They have jobs, pay their bills, and fall in love which is not like a lot of Alexie’s works. It is a novel about the serious issues that people of all races encounter like diabetes, traffic accidents, and divorce. This is a novel of love stories and love in different relationships including children and parents, man and woman, movie stars and regular people and EVEN whites and Indians.

2007- Flight

Summary: A novel about an orphan Indian Boy who is trying to find his true identity. He is forced to find the true meaning of terror. The boy is about to make a massive decision to create violence but then is thrown back in time to an FBI agent at the time of the Civil Rights Era. He continues travelling back and learning his history and true identity. Like other Alexie works, Flight makes people laugh and cry at the same time. It speaks of why human beings have so much hatred in their lives.

2007- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Summary: This is Alexie’s first novel for young adults. It is about an Indian boy, Junior, from the Spokane Reservation that leaves his school to be in an all white school. He is a cartoonist. It is also heartbreaking and funny. Junior is breaking away from the life that he is destined for.

This is a video of Sherman Alexie speaking about his novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. He reads excerpts from the novel and it gives a good example of his style of writing on American Indian Literature and also his use of humor in his works.

"Official Sherman Alexie." shermanalexie.com. 2009. 28 May 2009 .

"Sherman Alexie Speaks." Youtube. 09 November 2007. 28 May 2009 .