Louise Erdrich has contributed significantly to the development of the Native American themes in literature. She is also considered to be one of the most prominent leaders of The Native American Renaissance – the period in history of American literature marked by the rapid growth of literary works written by the Native Americans writers.
Louise came from the large family and was the eldest of seven children. Since childhood, her literary talent was obvious. The author’s parents were not against Louise’s interest in writing various stories and poems. By contrast, they gave the active encouragement and support in Louise’s literary attempts. The girl was raised up in Dartmouth where in 1972 profound changes were introduced into the system of education. In the following year, women got the chance to receive the higher education. Unwilling to miss the opportunity, Louise entered the college in 1972. During her studies, the future author tested herself in several occupations. She worked as a waitress, teacher at prisons, lifeguard and finally got the job of an editor in the Indian Council newspaper. During her college years, she got acquainted with Michael Dorris, who was the head of the Native American studies department at the college. Dorris was the writer too, his award-winning novel “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water” made the author famous and well-known person in the literary circles. Michael’s and Louise’s visions on the further development of literature coincided. As the result, they started their cooperation. The novels were written by both of them: if Doris wrote the draft, Erdrich would attentively reread it and correct, and vice versa. The correction did not stop until the novel had not been deliberately checked from the first to the last pages. Such an active and effective collaboration made them closer. Both of them fell in love with each other and in 1986 Dorris and Erdrich got married. However, a few years later they divorced and abruptly finished their cooperation. As soon as Louise Erdrich’s novels had been published, they immediately received rave reviews. Her works were extremely marked by both, readers and critics.
The distinguishing feature of the Erdrich’s style is the absence of the chronological order in the novels. The events are changing in the perpetual change of epochs and time prospects. Moreover, the narration is described from the different perspectives; the narrators as well as their perceptions of the reality change and differ, which allows the reader to create a more vivid image of the described events and implied ideas. All characters, which the author depicts on the pages of her stories, are Native Americans and the main themes and ideas aim at describing their lifestyle and worldview. The credibility of the described events make a reader trust and believe the author. As the consequence, the growing popularity of the Louise Erdrich’s novels resulted in their inclusion into the American literature.
The most prominent works in the literary heritage of the author are: “Love Medicine”, “The Beet Queen”, “The Bingo Palace”, “Tracks”, “The Plague of Doves” and others. “The Plague of Doves” was highly estimated by the critics and was a finalist of the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Her outstanding work “Tracks” differs from the other writings. It describes not merely the lives of the Native Americans but also touches upon crucial political and social issues. Tastes differ. As a result, there are both, the opponents and the proponents of the Louise Erdrich’s works. However, all of them admit, that her prose and poetry are very touching and thought provoking – the qualities which form the main criteria of the valuable literature.