Anyway, if you look up her current credits, you'll find that her novel Plague of Doves (which, incidentally, contains a chapter called "Satan: Highjacker of a Planet") was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She is a repeat National Book Award winner and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippeway Indians, a band of the Anishinaabe, also known as Ojibwe.
If you're just discovering her work, you might want to check out her dystopian, straight-up science fiction novel that just came out last year (November 2017). Dwight Garner's review in The New York Times starts like this:
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| Photography by Jean-Luc Bertini |
"Big lizard-birds fill the skies. Saber-toothed cats make meals of dogs. The United States government appears to have collapsed, but hardy Post Office employees ("neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night") somehow make their rounds in armored personnel carriers.
"In shades of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, pregnant women are rounded up so that their births can be observed. Nonpregnant women are seized, too, and forced to carry to term frozen embryos from the old world's in vitro fertilization clinics."
Tempted? Garner continues on to say that the book isn't very good. This is just one man's opinion! For another perspective, read Margaret Atwood interviewing Louise Erdrich here.
Do you notice any similarities among the three stories you read? Any mirrors of trapdoors? Anything that seems related to the description of Erdrich's new sci-fi?
The Red Convertible has mirrors and trapdoors in that it seems to be a bright story in the beginning, and only becomes darker once we read the line where Lyman says he doesn't look at the picture that Bonita took anymore. We realize that something darker must be going on, and see how Lyman deals with his brother's PTSD and eventual suicide. In Saint Marie, there are mirrors and trapdoors in that the nuns use religion as a tool for getting their own way, rather than following the "rules" of Catholicism. We clearly see when Marie decides to become a nun for revenge what Catholicism is to her - a tool used out of her selfishness. In Satan: Hijacker of a Planet, we are once again plunged into a world that questions the role of religion in our society, through the innocent eyes of a young girl.
ReplyDeleteAll three of these stories are similar to Erdrich's new novel in that they wander along a tightrope, wondering what lines there are to cross in our society and if we've already crossed them. It imagines a dystopian world that seems outrageous at first glance and eerily familiar once we take a closer look.
While sci-fi elements aren't present in any of the stories I read, the dark, dystopian futures are definitely there, specifically with the religious aspects. I found "Satan" and "Saint Marie" the most disturbing because of the oppressive religious aspects. The feeling of being trapped by faith and made a slave to God is scarier than any horror sci-fi currently out. "Red Convertible" is less forward with its horror, but perfectly sums up the sorrow of losing someone you love who has lost their faith and will to live. Erdrich's works do have mirrors and trapdoors to Atwood, as both try to scare and shock the reader into thinking about themselves and where they stand in society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sage, there weren't any sci-fi elements present, but definitely the dark, dystopian futures. I enjoyed the darker perspective in "Saint Marie" and "Satan: Hijacker of a Planet" because not many authors want to delve into the oppressive religion aspects (at least none that I've read). These two short stories of being trapped by your faith creates a little unease, knowing that this could happen (or is happening now) is pretty horrifying. My favorite was "Red Convertible", just from the first paragraph Henry's suicide felt like it was casually mentioned. That alone felt disturbing and was only a little set up of the ending. The "Red Convertible" had the most trapdoors that stood out to me. I think Erdrich and Atwood both work towards shocking the reader along with causing the reader to question society's role in their place in the world.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to what we spoke about in our last class, each of these three Erdrich short stories play heavily with the element of shock factor. The Red Convertible and Satan: Highjacker of a Planet both have endings that instill slight gasps although both events had been heavily foreshadowed prior. Saint Marie is riddled all over with shocking moments, but the most absurd, unpredictable of them all comes at the very end, when Leopalda lies to the convent about how and why Marie's hand was struck. In all of the stories, though, Erdrich writes in a way that makes her stories seem very suspenseful, yet without using any deliberate suspenseful writing tactics. Each story builds up to reveal a bigger purpose. I noticed this most prominently in The Red Convertible, as Erdrich writes in a way that makes readers feel on edge without providing any real reason for the uneasiness. The whole story leaves readers feeling a bit off-center until the end when Henry drowns and the audience, subsequently, uses this as closure for the rest of the story's strangeness. I didn’t recognize any of the stories to be plotted in a futuristic dystopian society like her new novel is. Instead, i found each to be quite obviously rooted in the past, what with the war, old cars, intense religion, naive, inexperienced young women, and heavy, subsequent sexism.
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ReplyDeleteI see the elements of darkness within these stories, though obviously much more on the surface in some than others. Also in reference to our previous class discussion, I see not a twist in the stories, but the one element at the end that reveals something seen but new that makes the entire narrative much clearer. I found this to be especially true in the first two stories. In The Red Convertible I predicted that the brother died, but I thought he would destroy the car. It suddenly made sense when his brother did, and many elements of the story became clearer. I did not recognize any futuristic or dystopian elements, but potentially a bit of magical realism, especially in the second story, though that potentially falls under some other category that more so melds the real and slightly unreal. As far as craft, I really appreciate how, as the writer who introduced her pointed out, Erdrich can beautifully switch between lifelike, realistic prose, and more abstract poetics. This diversity is clearest to me when looking at the first and third stories, as the first is very grounded in simple, narrative daily voice and the third has heavier poetic descriptions. I admire this because it's something that I strive to emulate but still find that I struggle with, balancing both within one genre, whatever that genre may be.
ReplyDeleteThe most prevalent similarity that I found between the three stories was the full-circleness that existed between the beginnings and the endings. In “The Red Convertible,” the first paragraph says, “we owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share.” At the end of the story, Henry mentions that his boots are filling and Lyman drives the car into the river to drown with Henry. In “Saint Marie,” the first sentence is, “So when I went there, I knew the dark fish must rise.” Then, it ends with “Rise up! I thought. Rise up and walk! There is no limit to this dust!” It begins and ends with this darkness and concept of rising. “Satan: Highjacker of a Planet” begins and ends mentioning the dryness of the summer. These full circle endings are quite obvious and important to the stories, providing thematic meaning and a satisfying wrap up that adds both elements of shock and favorable closure. As said before, these stories don’t seem to have science fiction elements, but it is very clear how Erdrich could have moved onto a more sci-fi style of writing based on the darker elements of these stories. It often seems that the darkest of writers are the most capable of creating the most fictional things within the realm of fiction.
ReplyDeleteWhile darkness is evident in each story, Erdrich presents them is different ways. In "Red Convertible", she lets the story write itself with the use of simplistic and blunt language, as Udall stated in his intro. The darkness of this story obviously lies within Henry, but is also with Lyman's inner struggle to admit that his brother is no longer what he used to be before the war. I think her use of simplistic language at the climax had a greater effect than if she tried to poeticize her language because every reader knew Henry's boots were going to fill up, but when the time came you wish it hadn't happened. "Saint Marie" and "Satan: Highjacker of a Planet" presented darkness through a religious and spiritual theme. "Saint Marie" felt more deeply sinister as Erdrich characterized The Dark One to be living in and around everyone, and also the questionable actions of Sister Leopolda. "Satan..." felt darkest on the surface as a young woman was lured so easily into religion by it's spiritual power because of her "curious and calm" nature at age sixteen. But she also discovers a deep connection with Stan in the conclusion of the story, which I saw as one the lighter point in the story compared to its initial dark tone.
ReplyDeleteOne of the similarities and the mirrors/trapdoors that I noticed in all three stories is how things seeded at the beginning of the story wind up coming back in the conclusion. "The Red Convertible" starts with telling us that Henry is the one that owns the whole car now, and the fact that his boots filled with water. We don't know what that means at the time, but we understand it by the end of the story. This is the sort of 'surprise' that I enjoy, where the author signals something at the beginning, and we learn what that signal is at the end of the story. This signal and building continues in "Saint Marie" with the lines about Marie going to be a saint, and how there's both Satan/ambition in both Marie and Leopolda. These signals turn out to the 'surprise' ending of Leopolda's abuse of Marie turning out to be the reason she appears saintly to the other nuns. "Satan: Hijacker of a Planet" has signals that show up first in the title rather than the text itself. First Satan is similar enough to Stan, that you get the impression that they're connected. In addition, Stan's rhetoric about Satan and the "hijacker of planets" foreshadow's his taking advantage of the narrator at the end, especially once she starts creating his own world for him towards the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteAnother element that I saw in the stories was the element of heritage, because Marie is able to go to the convent because she doesn't have much Native American blood, and how Lyman credit's his brother's recruitment to his nose, and how many elements of Stan's world are related to his German heritage.
Erdrich very noticeably has a great darkness in her works. I don't know how much of it is sci-fi; I can see how it plays into the sinister world in the description above, but in my opinion, it seems to be more mystical on the side of magical realism or fabulism in my opinion. Her story, "The Red Convertible," hints at a mystical connection between the main character, her car, and her boyfriend. The car mirrors that of the health of her boyfriend as we see how as he becomes less well and more aggressive as the car degrades. Later in the story, our main character seems to gain the ability to feel her boyfriend and finds him in time to wake him from death. And finally, after he drowns, she pushes the car in after him which signifies the connection of the two. "Saint Marie," had a shift into Christian mysticism with Marie and Sister Leopolda. The dreams Marie had and the want of Sainthood led her down a radical path of trying to find herself and put herself in that position. Sister Leopolda had the ability to see into people and to see the Devil within. While I am not sure if she saw the actual Devil or just wanted to get rid of the Native American in Marie that was there in her blood which she often calls out. "Satan: Hijacker of a Planet" felt like a clashing of Native American mysticism and Christian mysticism that constinently felt like it was pushing to be on the top. All the stories were dark and disturbing and surprising without clear ends, but still somehow felt satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the several previous comments mentioning the rounding out of each story. Something about the end being not-so-hidden in the beginning made each of these pieces more intriguing. It was like watching a magic show in which the magician is willing to disclose the surprise ending of his performance, but won't tell you how he is going to get there. It makes you watch all the more intently, hoping to see the hidden strings and trap doors that make the illusion fall apart. Erdrich has crafted her tales so well, however, that the only hint of a jagged edge within any of these stories is due to the reader's own inability to notice crucial details. The method Erdrich uses to gloss over important events in her stories as though they were nothing but gusts of wind is as frustrating as it is brilliant. Perhaps some of the magic lies in that technique.
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