Trickster Orthodoxy?: Deceptive Appearances in Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Keywords:
trickster figure, Louise Erdrich, Native American literature, hybridity, religious dogma, subversive aestheticsAbstract
This article analyzes the ambiguous figure of the trickster in Louise Erdrich’s novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. The paper explores how the trickster, as a creator and destroyer, challenges boundaries and orthodoxy within the narrative. The study examines the dual approach of internal literary analysis and external theoretical inquiry, focusing on the beatification of Sister Leopolda and the subversion of religious dogma. The author contends that Erdrich’s novel questions the polarity between Christianity and Native spirituality, highlighting hybridity and the trickster’s role in undermining hegemonic cultures. This work investigates the significance of rewriting strategies as part of a subversive or orthodox 'trickster aesthetic.' The article argues that while the trickster figure is central to contemporary minority literature, its overuse risks creating a paradoxical orthodoxy of the unorthodox.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
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