Abstract: There is a fascinating but little known history of Native North American writing on the classical cultures of Europe: in poetry, novels, short stories, essays, letters, and other genres from the seventeenth century to today, Native writers have been using the history, mythology, literature, and languages of ancient Greece and Rome to a variety of effects. Generation after generation, they have written precisely as indigenous writers in a colonial situation, highlighting their Native identity and making use of the settler-colonists' prestigious antiquity as they participate in what has been called survivance. In this presentation Professor Williams will provide a selective overview of this tradition, highlighting a few recurring themes and suggesting some interpretive frameworks.
