The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems
by Sherman Alexie
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A collection of 5 short stories and 40 poems focusing on life on a Native American reservation in eastern Washington state, "that deals comically and poignantly with basketball, convenience stores, cars and other artifacts of everyday life"--New York Times, Notable Books of the Year 1992, December 6, 1992.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I'm totally not trying to hack on native writing, here or anywhere. Nor am I hacking on free post-secondary education for natives, which I absolutely support. I am merely noting that if you are interested in being a writer and can go to school for as long as you want for free, then it seems obvious to start with, like, an MFA; and this is neither the time or the place to dwell on the mewling sameness that creative-writing programs churn out, but anyone who has been through one will know what I'm talking about.
Sherman Alexie is a bracing antidote to all that. This is down-on-the-reserve shit, and fuckin' damn right, right? People need that in their faces, delivered by someone who isn't in it to shock or appall, just to quietly say "this show more is how it is", and even more quietly, at the end: "justify it. I dare you." And so when he does get shocking, like with the awful story about the kid in the house full of fireworks, it doesn't come across as sensationalistic or exploitative. It comes across as cold and angry as a blade. But those aren't the moments that stick with you, really, nevertheless. It's the moments of helplessness: I vanished into the implications of that bit right at the start, that could have served as an epigram: "Every highway in the world crosses some reservation, cuts it in half."
Colonial logic. We think we're so beyond it, but here are the people still bound by its visible concrete chains. Give them the waste land, then put a federal highway across it. This land is so bountiful and we were so greedy; and in Alexie I see a tempered warrior--someone who might have been a bit wild, once, a bit self-destructive, with that black pit inside--someone who found his voice and direction, I'll even say his cause, but remembered that he was Crazy Horse inside, and needed to stay that way. The Crazy Horse references fly thick and fast. Someone who learned reflection, melancholy, even the uses of same as weapons too. Someone who shows us pain, and dares us to justify it. That's a warrior if anyone is. Noble and sad. show less
Sherman Alexie is a bracing antidote to all that. This is down-on-the-reserve shit, and fuckin' damn right, right? People need that in their faces, delivered by someone who isn't in it to shock or appall, just to quietly say "this show more is how it is", and even more quietly, at the end: "justify it. I dare you." And so when he does get shocking, like with the awful story about the kid in the house full of fireworks, it doesn't come across as sensationalistic or exploitative. It comes across as cold and angry as a blade. But those aren't the moments that stick with you, really, nevertheless. It's the moments of helplessness: I vanished into the implications of that bit right at the start, that could have served as an epigram: "Every highway in the world crosses some reservation, cuts it in half."
Colonial logic. We think we're so beyond it, but here are the people still bound by its visible concrete chains. Give them the waste land, then put a federal highway across it. This land is so bountiful and we were so greedy; and in Alexie I see a tempered warrior--someone who might have been a bit wild, once, a bit self-destructive, with that black pit inside--someone who found his voice and direction, I'll even say his cause, but remembered that he was Crazy Horse inside, and needed to stay that way. The Crazy Horse references fly thick and fast. Someone who learned reflection, melancholy, even the uses of same as weapons too. Someone who shows us pain, and dares us to justify it. That's a warrior if anyone is. Noble and sad. show less
This hauntingly beautiful collection of poems and short stories is a gritty account of life on the reservation. It's a fast read, but one should savour each poem, going slowly and taking the time to be absorbed into this world. Though the life portrayed is hard—full of disappointment and failed dreams—there is a unmistakable lining of hope, and of the promise of family ties. By mixing prose and poetry, Sherman Alexie reaches into deep into native American culture as it is, both the good and the bad.
Painful - but insightful. I've read his later books (most recently The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, which is marvelously accessible to all kinds of readers,) and his humor and hope sustain one through the pain. This is his first book, and the pain is more raw, but the humor is still there. I am wondering if I might have the courage to look at despair as he does.
p.s. I write my review before reading other reviews - and then I go on to avidly read what others think. If you do that, too, note all the times "raw" and "hope" are used. Not so many noted the humor; didn't others think it was hysterically funny?
p.s. I write my review before reading other reviews - and then I go on to avidly read what others think. If you do that, too, note all the times "raw" and "hope" are used. Not so many noted the humor; didn't others think it was hysterically funny?
The Business Of Fancy Dancing: Stories and Poems
By Sherman Alexie
1992
Hanging Loose Press
Published in 1992, selling over 10,000 copies, this is a collection of poems, many which have previously been published. Sherman Alexies writing is always Native American based, his undeniable talent for language, usage of words always make his work hard to put down. His sense of humor is excellent, I find myself laughing or chuckling out loud frequently and makes his work even more engaging. It brings his fable like stories to point.
Fancy dancing is competitive pow wow dancing created by Native Americans veterans from WW II as a form of entertainment. Newer cultures and fashion styles often compete with the elder more traditional dances.
This show more collection tells of the constant struggle with his feelings of powerlessness growing up in a white man's world. His humorous but purposeful poems are unforgettable. Check him out. show less
By Sherman Alexie
1992
Hanging Loose Press
Published in 1992, selling over 10,000 copies, this is a collection of poems, many which have previously been published. Sherman Alexies writing is always Native American based, his undeniable talent for language, usage of words always make his work hard to put down. His sense of humor is excellent, I find myself laughing or chuckling out loud frequently and makes his work even more engaging. It brings his fable like stories to point.
Fancy dancing is competitive pow wow dancing created by Native Americans veterans from WW II as a form of entertainment. Newer cultures and fashion styles often compete with the elder more traditional dances.
This show more collection tells of the constant struggle with his feelings of powerlessness growing up in a white man's world. His humorous but purposeful poems are unforgettable. Check him out. show less
A short book full of poems and stories centered on modern life around the reservation. There are times when the writing is deep and emotional, times when it is laid back and thoughtful and times when the story is only that; a story told to those who are listening. It is all very modern-creative type writing with a deeper meaning settled somewhere within, but it is all so beautifully done that you might just find yourself revisiting the book again and again. You might even have a different experience each time you do, but it will always be a wonderful journey.
Poems and Stories to Connect with the Soul
It is hard to know where to begin in a review of this collection of stories and poems evocative of the life and culture of the Native American people in today's society; life on the reservation, simply to say that the writing is fantastic... excellent and opens up your heart and soul to the myriad emotions held up like a mirror, right in your face.
The language used is both poetic and earthy, uncomfortable at times, and yet makes you listen, draws you in and connects with you on a level that is deeply emotional, almost visceral and presents the subjects of his writing in a way that we cannot ignore or gloss over. Excellent writing, both in the stories and poems leaves us thinking deeply on all show more that we have read, and heard. show less
It is hard to know where to begin in a review of this collection of stories and poems evocative of the life and culture of the Native American people in today's society; life on the reservation, simply to say that the writing is fantastic... excellent and opens up your heart and soul to the myriad emotions held up like a mirror, right in your face.
The language used is both poetic and earthy, uncomfortable at times, and yet makes you listen, draws you in and connects with you on a level that is deeply emotional, almost visceral and presents the subjects of his writing in a way that we cannot ignore or gloss over. Excellent writing, both in the stories and poems leaves us thinking deeply on all show more that we have read, and heard. show less
Sherman Alexie is a talented writer who has a lot to teach non-Indians about Indians and also to point out things to Indians about themselves. Oh,and all of us humans can reflect on the trials of human nature here,too.
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(M101'12) The Business of Fancydancing, Sherman Alexie in World Reading Circle (January 2013)
Author Information
60+ Works 31,048 Members
Sherman J. Alexie Jr. was born on October 7, 1966. His mother was Spokane Indian and his father was Coeur d'Alene Indian. Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He decided to attend high school off the reservation where he knew he would get a better education. He was the only Indian at the school, and excelled show more academically as well as in sports. After high school, he attended Gonzaga University for two years before transferring to Washington State University, where he graduated with a degree in American studies. He received the Washington State Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship in 1991 and the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship in 1992. His collections of poetry included The Business of Fancydancing, First Indian on the Moon, The Summer of Black Widows, One Stick Song, and Face. His first collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, received a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction and a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award. His other short story collections included The Toughest Indian in the World, Ten Little Indians, and War Dances. His first novel, Reservation Blues, received the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award and the Murray Morgan Prize. His other novels included Indian Killer, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Flight. He won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction in 2018 for You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir. Alexie and Jim Boyd, a Colville Indian, collaborated on the album Reservation Blues, which contains the songs from the book of the same name. In 1997, Alexie collaborated with Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne/Arapaho Indian, on a film project inspired by Alexie's work, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, from the short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Smoke Signals debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998, winning two awards: the Audience Award and the Filmmakers Trophy. In 1999 the film received a Christopher Award. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1992-01-01
- People/Characters
- Chief Victor, Sr.; Chief Victor, Jr.; Willie Boyd; Thomas Builds-the-Fire; Mary Song; Eve Ford (show all 14); David WalksAlong; Lester FallsApart; Crazy Horse; Vernon WildShoe; Seymour; Eugene Boyd; Agnes Victor; Jesse WildShoe
- Important places
- Wellpinit, Washington, USA; Spokane Indian Reservation, Washington, USA; Spokane, Washington, USA; Seattle, Washington, USA; Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School, Goulding, Utah, USA
- Important events
- Assassination of John F. Kennedy
- First words
- My eyes were closed tight in the reservation November night and the three in the morning highway was the longest in tribal history.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"How much you got left?" I ask him, as I take a long jump shot, send the ball arcing noiselessly into the dark.
"Just as much as you," he whispers. "Just as much as you." - Blurbers
- Kincaid, James R.; Harjo, Joy; Louis, Adrian C.; Griswold, Jay
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems (1992) is Sherman Alexie's anthology of stories and poems. Please distinguish between it and other similarly-titled Works for a single story or poem, and from the video ... (show all)(2002) and screenplay (2003) adaptations. Thank you.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 388
- Popularity
- 80,588
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (4.01)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 4
