Art as Performance, Story as Criticism: Reflections on Native Literary Aesthetics

Description

Pick up a work of typical literary criticism and you know what to expect: prose that is dry| pedantic| well-meaning but tedious–slow-going and essentially humorless. But why should that be so? Why can’t more literary criticism have a political edge and be engaging and fast-paced? Why can’t it include drama| personal narrative| and even humor? Why can’t criticism become an artistic performance| rather than just a discussion of art?

“Art as Performance| Story as Criticism” is Craig Womack’s answer to these questions. Inventive and often outrageous| the book turns traditional literary criticism on its head| rejecting distanced| purely theoretical argumentation for intimate engagement with literary works. Focusing on Native American literature| Womack mixes forms and styles. He is unafraid to combine meticulous research and carefully considered historical perspectives with personal reactions and reflections.

The book opens with a short story| “The Song of Roe NAld|” in which a Native filmmaker loses control of his movie project| in part because of his homoerotic attraction to its star. The following chapters| or “mus(e)ings|” include original dramas| while others more closely resemble traditional literary criticism| such as essays discussing the lesser-known plays of Lynn Riggs and the stories of Durango Mendoza. Still other chapters defy easy categorization| such as the piece “Caught in the Current| Clinging to a Twig|” in which Womack interweaves historical analysis of the state of the Creek Nation in 1908 with a vivid recreation of the last day on earth of Creek poet Alexander Posey. Throughout the book| the author offers his take on such controversial issues as the Cherokee freedmen issue and the ban on gay marriage.

In being different| Womack seeks to breathe new life into literary analysis and in-troduce criticism to a wider audience. Radical| groundbreaking| and refreshing| “Art as Performance| Story as Criticism” reinvents literary criticism for the twenty-first century.