The stereotrope, invented around 1860, used stop-action photography and persistence of vision to give the illusion of motion to three-dimensional images. In this it resembles the stereotype, which certainly counts on persistent vision and is intended to give the illusion of depth to the one-dimensional. On the other hand, the idea of the trope, which is a trope of itself, is usually defined as a metaphor or a pattern of metaphors, but this leaves out the way tropes trip up both those who carry them and those the tropes are supposed to be about. In this context, one might say that the stereotrope is the tightrope walked by American Indian people when confronted by the stereotypic knowledge about American Indian…
Entries Tagged as 'Book reviews'
Hitching rides on the stereotrope, with Lise Erdrich and other rowdy writers
April 5th, 2009<-- by Bruce White --> · 1 Comment
Tags: Book reviews · Minnesota culture
Heid Erdrich, knocking over monuments
March 20th, 2009<-- by Bruce White --> · No Comments
One of the definitions of the word “monument” is “a stone shaft or other object set in the earth to mark a boundary.” This is not exactly what Heid E. Erdrich had in mind in her brilliant new book of poems, National Monuments (MSU Press), though she leaps across boundaries, knocking over markers. The book is about the nature of the monument as metaphor and endangered sacred space, and “the places indigenous people would consider their national monuments,” and the human body as monument, and a few other things, which all make perfect sense to readers as we follow her developing thoughts, one leaping to the next.
The first and title poem in the book describes a once familiar scene in Minnesota, Wisconsin,…
Tags: Book reviews · Minnesota's 150th