Great Plains Literature by Linda Pratt

MLR, .,   is defined loosely here, but this work will surely make a profound intervention in debates both queer and literary. Bateman’s study itself is a ‘narrative vessel’ (p. ), bringing forth a story of queer survival that demands to be heard. e confidence of series editors Kevin J. H. Dettmar and Mark Wollaeger in describing Bateman as ‘a canny reader of queer theory and a formidable theorist in his own right’ (p. vii) is well placed. e Modernist Art of Queer Survival is an invigorating book, and one that will endure. Queer theory has a future, and this is the kind of work that makes scholars want to be a part of it. U  Y H R Great Plains Literature. By L P. (Discovering the Great Plains) Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. . iv+ pp. $.; £.. ISBN – –––. In Great Plains Literature Linda Pratt offers a survey of the region’s writers that is both compact and in-depth, at least concerning the aspects and authors on which Pratt has chosen to focus. e book is, by design, easily accessible to the non-academic, but even someone who studies Great Plains literature is bound to discover a few interesting titles. Aer an Introduction with an inciteful overview of the region, the book features six chapters organized chronologically: the forced removal of Native Americans; homesteading as viewed through O. E. Rolvaag’s trilogy; the end of the settlement period and Willa Cather’s novels; the Great Depression on the plains; a chapter featuring city settings; and, finally, a look at contemporary authors. e critical strength of the book is that, in addressing a region that is highly prone to myth, it completely resists nostalgia in its view of the literature. Instead of focusing on hearty folks and wholesome values, as many do when assessing the region, Pratt’s analysis of the literature takes on painful histories: Native American genocide, the widespread failure of homesteading, closed-mindedness that extends to violent racial prejudice, and damage to the environment. As Pratt writes in the Introduction: ‘is study will reveal to us both the pioneering struggles needed for these territories to become bona fides of their nation and the legacy of that past as it plays out today in a contemporary society that wants both to forget and to remember’ (p. ). Indeed, Pratt also engages with literature that highlights the valiant struggle of pioneers and the profound connection plains residents feel with home. Overall, the body of Great Plains literature that Pratt has chosen to assemble presents an even-handed, realistic view of the region and remains vigilantly tied to historical context. Some unique features of the book include the chapter on literature of plains cities, a setting not oen acknowledged. e work of Tillie Olson features prominently here. In the Great Depression chapter Pratt takes an in-depth look at Lois Phillips Hudson’s excellent though underrated novel e Bones of Plenty (). As Pratt notes, Hudson’s novel is oen overshadowed by Steinbeck’s e Grapes of Wrath but offers a more nuanced, complex look at the period. Pratt also includes  Reviews Canadian literature throughout the book and resists treating the Great Plains as a solely American region. Margaret Laurence’s acclaimed novel e Diviners (), set in Canada, receives particular attention in the section on contemporary writers. Flaws in Pratt’s survey are limited, but one may concern the chapter on Willa Cather. Pratt’s criticisms of Cather are valid—the problematic nature of her male narrators and, especially, the fact that her plains are ‘more mythic than historical’ (p. ). Pratt ultimately concludes of Cather: ‘It is important, but not easy, to see in her novels of the West what was once there that is lost, as well as what was never there at all’ (p. ). And this is an astute evaluation; however, there does not seem to be enough emphasis on the value of critically approaching this mythic depiction of the region. Cather’s novels put the Great Plains on the literary map, but without much praise for her considerable talent as a writer, a reader of Great Plains Literature might not feel encouraged to pursue these fundamental...

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