The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

present and emphasizes the present importance of
history. Erdrich once told a reviewer: “I’ll follow an
inner thread of a plot and find that I am actually
retelling a very old story, often in a contemporary
setting.”
Rather than celebrate the colonizer’s conquest of
the wilderness, Erdrich challenges the right of the
United States to control North America. Her books
depict the devastation wrought by European colo-
nizers upon the original inhabitants of the conti-
nent’s upper midwestern forests and prairies during
the nineteenth century.
Erdrich followedLove Medicinewith three related
books,Beet Queen(1986),Tracks(1988), andBingo
Palace(1994).Bingo Palaceaddresses the impact of
casinos and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. She
also published books of poems,Jacklight(1984) and
Baptism of Desire(1989). Other books published into
the twenty-first century include poetry, memoir, chil-
dren’s literature, essays, and further novels.

Impact Erdrich was one of a group of extremely sig-

nificant women of color who together changed the

landscape of U.S. literary production in the 1980’s.

Others included Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Mor-

rison, and Gloria Anzaldúa, each of whom added

her voice to a rapidly diversifying marketplace of

ideas during the decade. Erdrich’s 1980’s writings in

particular challenged the American myth of the

open frontier. She gave voice to the dynamic com-

munities that originally resided in the upper Mid-

west, and she also portrayed nuanced interactions

between them and various European settler groups.

These works redefined racial categories as well as in-

troducing Ojibwe histories and narrative structures

into American literary traditions.

Further Reading

Beidler, Peter G., and Gay Barton, eds.A Reader’s

Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich.Columbia: Uni-

versity of Missouri Press, 1999.

Chavkin, Allan, ed.The Chippewa Landscape of Louise

Erdrich.Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press,

1999.

Wong, Hertha Dawn Sweet.Louise Erdrich’s “Love

Medicine”: A Casebook. New York: Oxford Univer-

sity Press, 2000.

Denise Low

See also Beloved; Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of

1988; Literature in the United States; Multicultural-

ism in education; Native Americans; Poetry; Reli-

gion and spirituality in the United States.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Identification Science-fiction film

Director Steven Spielberg (1946- )

Date Released June 11, 1982

E.T.was the most successful film of the 1980’s, earning

more than three-quarters of a billion dollars worldwide. By

incorporating special effects and science fiction into a stor y

that was nonetheless driven primarily by sentiment and hu-

man situations, Spielberg captured the imaginations of

people throughout the globe and altered the course of his

own career.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial(1982) tells the story of a

boy who befriends a stranded alien, protects it from

government captivity, and helps it contact its people

342
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial The Eighties in America

Louise Erdrich.(Michael Dorris)