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History, Postmodernism, and Louise Erdrich's Tracks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Nancy J. Peterson
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Abstract

The deconstruction of history by poststructuralists and some philosophers of history has occurred at the moment when women and indigenous peoples have begun to write their own historical accounts. Louise Erdrich's historical novel, Tracks, brings into focus the necessity and the difficulties of writing Native American history in a postmodern epoch. The novel addresses two crucial issues: the referential value of history (If it is impossible to know the past fully, is it impossible to know the past at all?) and the status of history as narrative (If history is just a story, how is it possible to discriminate between one story and another?). Erdrich's novel suggests the need for indigenous histories to counter the dominant narrative, in which the settling of America is “progress,” but also works toward a new historicity that is neither a simple return to historical realism nor a passive acceptance of postmodern historical fictionality.

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Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 109 , Issue 5 , October 1994, pp. 982 - 994
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1994

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