cover image Dancing on the Rim of the World: An Anthology of Contemporary Northwest Native American Writing

Dancing on the Rim of the World: An Anthology of Contemporary Northwest Native American Writing

. Sun Tracks, $39 (266pp) ISBN 978-0-8165-1097-9

Lerner claims that this anthology of prose and poems by 34 writers is an attempt to represent ``the continuity of American Indian culture, art, and literature'' and renounce ``the myth of `lost' Indian culture.'' However, because the editor fails to define what the elements of this tradition are or to examine the question of continuity between an oral tradition and a written one, the attempt does not succeed. Many of the writers collected here practice forms of poetry that are largely structured on European models. The poet that's the only name she has/pk Chrystos, on the other hand, who describes herself as ``proudly uneducated,'' exemplifies resistance against Anglo culture and political domination: ``Everything the United States does to everybody is bad / No this US is not a good idea yep, no period,apparently she's against punctuation too/pk We declare you terminated.'' Other poets, such as Phil George, employ techniques that allude to an oral tradition: repeating rhymes, list-making and call-and-response. Whatever its shortcomings, this is, nevertheless, a variegated anthology that gathers a wide range of Native American voices. Lerner is a doctoral student in comparative American literature. (Oct.)