ENG 468 Ethnic Literature: D’Arcy McNickle and Louise Erdrich
Winter term 2010
CRN 25761
Prof. Gordon Sayre gsayre@uoregon.edu
14:00 – 15:20 Tuesday and Thursday in 176 Education
Office Hours for Winter 2010 are Tuesdays and thursdays 11:30-
12:30, Fridays 9-10
My office is in 521 PLC ph. 346-1313
Both McNickle and Erdrich were born into métis or mixed-blood
families on the northern plains, and wrote novels about the
life of native and immigrant peoples in and around a
fictionalized version of a reservation; the Flathead
Reservation in Montana and the Turtle Mountain Reservation in
North Dakota. Both have written children’s books in addition
to novels, poetry or works of history. By reading several
novels by each author, we will have the opportunity to explore
the dominant themes and motifs in the work of each, and to
learn about Native American history in general. The amount of
reading is substantial, but these novels will be a pleasure
for most of you. Moreover, the small enrollment this term will
make the course more like an upper-division seminar. Each
student will have the opportunity for a class presentation.
Please meet with me in advance to develop a topic for this.
Course requirements:
Two essays, of 4-5 pages each, due January 26th and March 2nd
Weekly quizzes, weeks 2 through 9
Final exam
Grading formula:
Quizzes 21%
Presentation 9%
Essays on each author 25%
Final exam 20%
Schedule of Readings
Jan. 5
Introduction to the course; read “Hard Riding”
Jan. 7
Surrounded chaps. 1-9; and sources for tales
in chapter 6
Jan. 12
Surrounded chaps. 10-22 and “Meat for God”
Jan. 14
Surrounded chaps. 23-34
Jan. 19
Wind from an Enemy Sky chaps. 1-10 and
“Snowfall”
watch video, “The Place of Falling Waters” pt. 1
Jan. 21
Wind from an Enemy Sky chaps. 11-19
“The Place of Falling Waters” pt. 2
Jan. 26
Wind from an Enemy Sky chaps. 20-32. First
paper due
Jan. 28
The Plague of Doves pp