Il sovvertimento dello stereotipo indiano creato dall'uomo bianco nei racconti di Sherman Alexie

This thesis was inspired by the seminar with Prof. Jens Temmen entitled "Introduction to Native American Studies", followed during my Erasmus stay in 2014-15 at Potsdam University. The seminar aimed to provide an overview of what Native American Literature is and how it has developed over the course of history. In the first chapter I will discuss which are the stereotypes about Native Americans e how they fixed in the common ideal. At first, the only point of view was offered by the European colonizers: a false and generalized portrait. Robert F. Berkhofer Jr., Owens Louis and Philip J. Deloria ¿the last two of Indian origin- are the authors taken into consideration in the paragraphs below. The situation gradually modified and new representative voices rose from that portion of population who remained forcedly silent for centuries. Among the contemporary Native American writers the seminar was about, Sherman Alexie distinguishes himself with his intrinsic humour. In the second chapter I will underline the fact that Alexie does not just entertain the reader through his lively writing style; instead, he uses the humour to convey political messages not only to Native American readers, but to every person. I will consider his autobiographical works, "The Unauthorized Biography of Me" and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and some short stories: "A Drug Called Tradition", "The Search Engine", "The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above", "Flight Patterns", "What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church?" and "What You Pawn I Will Redeem", and the movie Smoke Signals will be also briefly mentioned. I shall focus especially on Alexie's subversion of White man's Indian stereotypes through tradition and storytelling, the creation of humanized characters which are protagonists of today's life, and the fight against excessive nostalgia and compassion with the figure of the anti-hero. I have followed in my analysis some interviews, in particular the ones collected in Conversations with Sherman Alexie, edited by Nancy J. Peterson.