Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)
STUDIES - Bruce J. Degi: Braiding the New Native American Narrative: Michael Dorrié Yellow Raft in Blue Water.
Indians in the Montana Indian Reservation" (216). The review is as stereotyped as the assumption it makes about the novel. Nothing in this novel is designed to "open a new world" for those readers who want to know all the sordid details —the scars —about life on a contemporary reservation. Expectations about the nature of native American fiction are apparently still held as firmly as the expectations about native American culture. And it gets worse. Peter Parker, writing for The Listener, (again from London) claims that "the extent which the Red Man has succumbed to the American Dream may be gauged from this novel" (28). Apparently, that notion about native Americans is held so strongly by Parker that he could easily make the assertion before even reading the novel. Or, perhaps, instead of reading it. In fact, the long cherished notion that all artistic expressions by native Americans, about native Americans would, as a matter of course, center upon the mistreatment of the Noble Savage by American society, seems alive and well throughout his review. Parker ultimately concludes that: The plot has a certain perfunctory interest, but by far the most absorbing thing about this book is the black picture it paints of a dispossessed people and a despoiled culture. Unfortunately Dorris fails to exploit the central irony that his story is about inheritance, but with every page we see how the characters' own heritage has been eroded. In spite of some fancy (rather than fine) writing, this is an ugly and depressing book, unredeemed by passion, in which the characters remain curiously unlikeable, evoking pity but no affection. (28) It is hard to imagine a reading of the novel that could be more incorrect in every aspect. In one of the novel's unforgettable moments, Christine joins a "video rental club," whose membership lasts "for as long as you live" (19). Renting two videos (including the movie "Christine" about a car that murders people: "I am Christine. I am pure evil") , Christine rebuffs Rayona's concern about taking them with them out of the state to Montana. 'They won't be stolen," Christine explains, 'They'll be rented for life. If s completely legal. You just have to read 30
