 The cover from Bearheart's 1990 publication. | |
| Author | Gerald Vizenor |
|---|---|
| Original title | Darkness in Saint Louis: Bearheart |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | University of Minnesota Press |
Publication date | June 25, 1990 |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 9780816618521 |
Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles is a 1990 novel by Gerald Vizenor; it is a revised version of his 1978 debut novel Darkness in Saint Louis: Bearheart. The novel is a part of the Native American Renaissance and is considered one of the first Native American novels to introduce a trickster figure into a contemporary setting. Vizenor drew from trickster traditions from various Native American tribes, such as Nanabozho (Anishinaabe) and Kachina (Pueblo).[1][2]
The novel follows the adventures of Proude Cedarfair as he leads a group of mixedbloods on a pilgrimage across a post-apocalyptic and post-industrial United States that has run out of gasoline.[1][3] The novel demonstrates several of Vizenor's key concepts: his use of trickster figures; his use of mixedblood (or "crossblood") Native characters in a non-tragic way;[3] his version of magical realism—what he calls "mythic verism";[1] his conception of "postindian" identity;[3] and his use of parody, as in the way the novel parodies both Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis".[3]
- ^ a b c McClinton-Temple, Jennifer; Velie, Alan R. (2007). "Gerald Vizenor". Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature. Facts on File. pp. 376–378. ISBN 9780816056569.
- ^ McClinton-Temple, Jennifer; Velie, Alan R. (2007). "Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles". Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature. Facts on File. pp. 50–51. ISBN 9780816056569.
- ^ a b c d Owens, Louis (2001). Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780806133812.