Dialogism or Interconnectedness in the Work of Louise Erdrich

Abstract

Dialogism or Interconnectedness in the Work of Louise Erdrich, by Polish scholar Marta Lysik, is a profound investigation of Louise Erdrich’s writing. The title explains the essence of the detailed, six-chapter book: Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism, that is, interconnectedness, as seen in Erdrich’s selected works. In the introduction, Lysik states: “This study is not a veiled biographical project, but an attempt to view the selected literary works as one entity while paying attention to its singular elements, among them the writer’s insights into the processes of writing and reading” (2). Lysik informs the reader about the writer’s life and her relationship with her husband—specifically their collaboration and failed marriage—but that is kept to a minimum, as she concentrates on Erdrich’s practices of reading, writing, co-writing, and rewriting her works, which she analyzes thoroughly as a single entity.