HUM 221: Sherman Alexie ... "everyone feels like an outsider"

Today we will watch two interviews with Sherman Alexie, whose "Unauthorized Autobiography of Me" we read for today. As you watch, ask yourself if there's a change in your impression of the essay "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me" (Here First __-__), which we read for today, and the poem "How to Write the Great American Indian Novel" (Native American Songs and Poems 28-29), which we read last week. Take notes as you watch, and be ready to journal about your perceptions of the two before and after seeing the videos. For Wednesday, read the profile of Alexie in The Guardian, a British newspaper. Next week we'll watch his movie "Smoke Signals."

Sherman Alexie's first impression doesn't last very long.

Which is probably a good thing.

All too often he comes across as flippant, angry, sarcastic. He talks about things we don't want to hear about. Race, for one. Alcoholism, for another. The injustices done to American Indians through history. He vents his anger. But as he keeps talking, listeners come to realize there's more to him than wisecracks. Similarly, a lot of readers are put off by "How to Write the Great American Indian Novel" and "Unauthorized Autobiography of Me." But as they figure out where Alexie is coming from, often they change their minds.

We'll see both sides of Sherman Alexie in action. Tony Gallucci, of Milk River Film in Texas, shot his appearance on a literary panel of "nerdy bookworms" in Austin, Texas in November 2007 (9:57). Alexie spoke about Young Adult ("YA") novels, the teenagers who read them ... and the excitement he said teenagers -- and adult writers -- can get from books. Let's say he has an unusual way of describing it, but after a while you realize he has an unusual sense of humor but he's serious about loving books. Gallucci says:

At one point he appears to be flippant, but it's a false impression -- the questions were being randomly drawn from a fishbowl, and the questioner had no choice about who or what to ask ... In any case I thought Sherman handled it with great humor and poise, and made the situation evolve into a funny and astute answer.

Another interview, the public television in Seattle, shows another side of Sherman Alexie. Or is it the same? You decide.

Alexie's Seattle interview aired July 11, 2008, on the Conversations at KCTS 9 show on KCTS-TV. In it he talks about his life, his writing, alcoholism ... and how he broke that cycle in his family. (26:44) One of Alexie's main points, especially now he's writing for younger readers, is what he told his interviewer in Seattle: "What you realize when you talk to young people is that everyone feels like an outsider ... when you're 16, everybody feels like a freak."