ABSTRACT
In this chapter I discuss representations of Native American history in mixedblood narratives, focusing on two novels by Erdrich that depict contact between indigenous and colonizing forces near to the ‘medicine line’ or border between the US and Canada. I commence, however, with some comments on James Welch’s historical novel, Fools Crow. Mixed-blood narratives combine elements of the European-American tradition of the historical novel with an implicit empathy with those who experienced contact first hand. Mixedblood narratives form a literary genre that implicitly empathizes with the cultural hybridity of the mixed-blood position. Thus, while I accept Krech’s proposition about the contingent nature of historical narratives, I would suggest that the preponderance of mixed-blood narratives in the Native American literary canon complicate the mirroring of ‘relations between Native Americans and people of European descent’.1 Frequently, Native American historical novels dramatize the complexities of this relationship, which is often figured by focalizing the emotional life of a mixed-blood protagonist or multiple protagonists.
