Review of \u3ci\u3eWriting Indian, Native Conversations\u3c/i\u3e by John Lloyd Purdy

Writing Indian, Native Conversations provides keen discussion across three decades of Native American literature in the twentieth century along with consideration of literature in the new millennium. Interviews with well-known Native American scholars and authors such as Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, and Louis Owens provide a foreground from which Purdy delves more deeply into the works of Silko, Welch, Erdrich, King, Vizenor, and others. The critical, theoretical framework from which he analyzes the works is based on a construct that has at its core the assumption that we all come to a work of literature with a \u27lens,\u27 a critical-cultural orientation, which evokes a multiplicity of interpretations and responses from readers. Purdy\u27s four-part theory of elemental, structural traits of Native texts is rooted in the following elements: differentiation, investigation, affirmation, and continuance, also known as DIAC. DIAC serves as a critical tool with which to further investigate Native literatures