Essays

A Tribe Called Text: Whitman and Representing the American Indian Body

Author

• • Nicholas Soodik None Email Nicholas Soodik. (compose email, opens in email app.)

Abstract

Examines "the language with which Whitman represents the American Indian body" and argues that "the image of the Indian" marks Whitman's failure to "project actual physical presence in a literary text" because he "textualizes and . . . obscures the Indian body, aligning the indigenous American with the trope of writing and the composition of the text itself"; focuses on "Song of Myself," "Starting from Paumanok," "The Sleepers," and Whitman's story "The Half-Breed."

Keywords:

How to Cite: Soodik, N. (2004) “A Tribe Called Text: Whitman and Representing the American Indian Body”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. 22(2/3). doi: https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1756