e writing has not remained mired in regrets and recriminations. Instead, from Black Elk through Erdrich, Native writers have been engaged in responding constructively to the catastrophes of history.
By adopting European literary forms they have acknowledged that the oral traditions can no longer meet most of the needs of Native American communities. Shared interests mean that various tribes must interact continuously, while the need to address the dominant culture provides a second major rationale for the choice. But, as Ruppert points out, the adoption of European form is most important to writers as a means of positioning themselves as participants in two rich cultural traditions thereby creating "a dynamic that brings different cultural codes into confluence to reinforce and recreate the structures of human life" (3).
This strategy acknowledges the existence of multiple audiences for their work--tribal, Native Americans in general, and European American. The Native writer draws on two traditions in order to make the respective cultures of
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