A Secondary Ortiz

Bibliography

"[I write] for my children, for my wife, for my mother and my father and my grandparents and then reverse order that way so that I may have a good journey on my way back home."---Simon Ortiz A Good Journey

     The following bibliography contains the few, critical analysis that were found to include Ortiz, and links to web reviews of his books.  There are also some short remarks on Ortiz's works, taken from within the books themselves.  They are included here in the hope of inspiring those unfamiliar with Ortiz's work to read some of it.  It seems that there must be some critical works out there that were missed.  As this page was taking shape, more were being brought to my attention all the time.  Please e-mail any information about omissions.

Critical Studies Which Include Ortiz

• Maddox, Lucy, "Native American Poetry, "The Columbia History of American Poetry. eds. Jay Parini and Brett Miller. Columbia University Press, 1993: pp. 728-749.

• Roemer, Kenneth M., "Bear and Elk: The Nature(s) of Contemporary American Indian Poetry," Studies in American Indian Literature. ed. Paula Gunn Allen. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1983.

• Scarberry-Garcia, Susan, "Simon J. Ortiz," Dictionary of Literary Biography. ed. Kenneth M. Romer. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997: 208-221.

• Smith, Patricia C., "Coyote Ortiz: Canis Iatrans Iatrans in the Poetry of Simon Ortiz," Studies in American Indian Literature. ed. Paula Gunn Allen. New York: The Modern Language Association of America 1983.

• Wiget, Andrew. "Sending a Voice: The Emergence of Contemporary Native American Poetry." College English, 46 October 1984: pp. 598-609.

Forthcoming   (all information is tentative)

• Speak To Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry. eds. Janice Gould and Dean Rader. University of Arizona Press, Fall 2001.

Review Links

• An extensive review of From Sand Creek written by Joe Napora (Mid-American Review 1986).
• A short review of The People Shall Continue written by
• Several short remarks on, After and Before the Lightning, plus a great image of the book from the U.of AZ..
• Also from the U. of AZ, remarks on and image of Woven Stone.

Review Clips

     A Good Journey

        "Simon Ortiz is an excellent poet and storyteller.  He writes with warmth, compassion, and with a keen eye for nuances and broad scope...Simon is an Acoma Pueblo Indian.  That sense of purpose, that sense of 'humility and recognition of his part among all things in the universe,' and especially that sense of being Indian, pervade all his work." ---San Francisco Review of Books

        "In one of these poems, Ortiz tells us how to make good chili stew.  chili, beef, herbs go into it, sure.  But also Rex the dog gets into the act and 'the earth, clouds, sounds, the wind.'  The totality of life goes into the art of nourishing.  The poem might be an image for the whole book.  A way of life, of living, is presented to the full."---Library Journal

     From Sand Creek

        "The massacre of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864 was one of the most atrocious war crimes visited on Native Americans.  In this work by Simon Ortiz, Sand Creek shines like a dark star over a continent of pain, and gives the poet a powerful vision which is alternately personal, social-political and historical: a vision of damnation and resistance which is nevertheless understanding and even hopeful"---Thomas McGrath

    After and Before the Lightning

     "In this book-length poetic work, Ortiz chronicles a winter spent on the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.  'A masterpiece, a symphony composed of poems of celebration and prayers for survival in America's prairie winter of the soul'"---Leslie Marmon Silko

        Woven Stone

     "A wise and prophetic book."---El Palacio

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