SOURCE: Jahner, Elaine. Review of Jacklight. Studies in American Indian Literatures 9, no. 1 (1986): 29-34.

In the following review, Jahner offers a critical review of Erdrich's Jacklight.

In an age and culture where the sheer volume of poetry written on a given day must approach that of personal letters, critics know that words like “new” or “unique” are so shopworn as to threaten meaning. Nevertheless, these adjectives retain their original full force of signification when applied to Louise Erdrich's Jacklight. The poems in this volume demonstrate an awareness that words, well-placed, will pull at the bit, will make us realize that we can't yet guess how much revelatory power any one word might possess, never mind that of words in combinations. Still another, quite concrete reason justifies applying an adjective like “unique.” The poems are rooted in the culture of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe in North Dakota. There, people...