Talk:Sherman Alexie

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Contents 1 Isn't "Alexie" a Russian Name? 2 Talking about Smoke Signals 3 Referencing changes 4 Cleanup 5 Criticism 6 Alexie? 7 Section deleted 8 Seattle Sonics 9 eBook controversy section 10 More translations

[edit] Isn't "Alexie" a Russian Name?

I am not disputing that he is Indian. But what about the rest of his heritage?

75.253.172.159 (talk) 06:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

...and your point? If you were educated at all, you'd know that many Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada have given Euro surnames (it's called colonization, read up on it). He's an Indian, period. It's pretty obvious. You non-Native people sure love to grasp at straws! --76.254.12.17 (talk) 05:03, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Talking about Smoke Signals

After watching Smoke Signals, I decided that it was one of the funniest movies I had seen. And one that seemed not to have a central idea. But after discussing the movie and going deeper into it's true meaning, this movie protrays a true native americans experience on the reservations along with the trials and tribulations they must go through.

[edit] Referencing changes

I removed the line, "Although Alexie is married to a woman and identifies himself as straight [1], he has sometimes written fiction from the perspective of a gay man." Seems irrelevant and possibly non-NPOV; I don't think we should care if he's gay or straight, and the orientation of his fictional characters certainly seems beside the point.

Chuggnutt 17:12, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

OK, I'm the one who wrote that, (and it has been edited over time from my original), because he is listed in the category "gay writers". Which I thought was vandalism. Then I went to "gay writers" category and it is described as "gay writers or straight writers who write from a gay perspective" (something like that, pressed for time, sorry) So I felt like the category that is *still there* at the bottom of the Alexie page needs to be explained. I took the time to find that reference where he actualy says he is straight. I sure don't care if he is straight or gay but as long as the category is at the bottom it is going to need explaining. IMHO. Writing is not my strong suit so maybe someone else can take it from here... --cda 02:50, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

(Also - someone pointed out he has written only one book from a gay perspective, I'm not familiar enough with his writing to write about that.)

[edit] Cleanup

The biogarphy section is a mess, especially the first paragraph. It needs to be broken down for readibility. The criticism section is way too listy. Stilgar135 17:31, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

The article is _bulging_ with stylistic blemishes. I'll purge it some time, thesis and other nonsense permitting. Notreallydavid 00:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I've tried to clean it up a bit. I think it could still use some work, but I've tried to organize the section on writing somewhat and have rewritten the biography. DanielEng 00:46, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism

Regarding the Criticisms section: What we really have here is a series of reviews and blurbs. I'm looking at Academic Search Premiere for actual scholarly criticism on Alexie and find the following:

1. Leibman, Laura Arnold. "A Bridge of Difference: Sherman Alexie and the Politics of Mourning." American Literature 77:3, 541-561.

2. Slethaug, Gordeon E. "Hurricanes and Fires: Chaotics in Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals and The Long Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Literature Film Quarterly 31:2, 130-142.

3. DeNuccio, Jerome. "Slow Dancing with Skeletons: Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Critique 44:1, 86-97.

4. Ford, Douglas. "Sherman Alexie's Indigenous Blues." MELUS 27:3, 197-216.

5. Fitz, Karsten. "Native and Christian: Religion and Spirituality as Transcultural Negotiation in American Indian Novels of the 1990s." American Indian Culture & Research Journal 26:2, 1-15.

6. Coulumbe, Joseph L. "The Approximate Size of His Favorite Humor." American Indian Quarterly 26:1, 94-116.

7. Christie, Stuart. "Renaissance Man: The Tribal 'Schizophrenic' in Sherman Alexie's 'Indian Killer." American Indian Culture & Research Journal 25:4, 1-19.

I'm less than halfway through the list right now, but I'll return at some point to continue fleshing out this list of critical sources. I'll try to get to some when I can so that we can actually offer summaries of critical views of Alexie's work. ProfJeFF 16:53, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alexie?

I put into search Alexie and nothing showed up, I don't know how to fix this but it shouldn't take first and last name to bring this article up. I someone knows how, please fix. Also if you look up Sherman it is listed as his last name, couldn't fix that eiter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.105.209.231 (talk • contribs) 2007-01-11T10:29:04

Should work fine, just make certain to click the "Search" button. I've sometimes pressed the "Go" button and forget that it does something slightly different. --健次(derumi)^talk 17:05, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Section deleted

I deleted a section that didn't seem to fit. There's already material in the article about Alexie's work being autobiographical, there's already a section on Smoke Signals, and it didn't seem like the right thing to just have a section with quotes from interviews (which, I might add, were not at all properly cited). If there are issues, please feel free to fix. DanielEng 08:21, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

It makes sense to me. There's no need to extend an article with repeated information. --健次(derumi)^talk 17:06, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seattle Sonics

Are all the details regarding the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City really necessary? Why not just link to the Seattle Sonics page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.212.76.206 (talk) 20:32, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] eBook controversy section

While I agree it is too long in its current form I completely disagree with Vizjim's deletion of almost the entire section so I am reverting it. It is rather unusual to hear an author's thought on the future of books, particularly on ebooks and it's more than rare to catch them openly speaking in a manner like this (that is, trashing the supposed 'star kid' of the book industry, Amazon's Kindle) - this obviously all belongs to this page dedicated to this author. This section needs a cleanup but not by gutting his words.Szlevi (talk) 13:35, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

In which case, this material belongs in the Kindle or e-book articles. In terms of Alexie's long controversy-studded career, honestly, this doesn't even merit a full sentence. I'll revert to my version for now - please could you carefully add maybe one or two chosen quotes to illustrate the section? Otherwise it's simply not an encyclopedic entry. Vizjim (talk) 14:27, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] More translations

"The ablsolutely true diary of a part-time Indian" is translated in German by Katharina Orgaß and Gerald Jung. I dont't want to add it because I am not a member of the Englisch Wikipedia, maybe someone else can do it (if you can't type ß do ss) Thank you. --Ganida (talk) 22:10, 28 December 2009 (UTC)