Hamlin Garland and the Indian

During 1895-1896, Hamlin Garland published a great deal of fiction and nonfiction about American Indian. His bibliography on subject included twenty-four short stories, one novel, one poem, nine essays, and one volume of collected short stories. The latter work was published in 1923. Yet in Garland papers today there are numerous unpublished manuscripts, sufficient, perhaps, to double number of his published Indian writings.1 Garland's treatment of Indian was sympathetic from start, and that sympathy caused him to expend much of his energy on works that were as much sociological as literary and essentially reformist rather than aesthetic. The purpose of this paper is not to refute or support any of literary interpretations of Garland's work. It is, rather, to stimulate interest in an evaluation of Garland's total production on American Indian and to suggest a reevaluation of some of his works in light of current interest in American Indian studies. As far as his fiction on American Indian is concerned, few pieces proved successful. Critics disagree as to literary value of his Indian fiction. For example, Owen J. Reamer2 and Roy W. Meyer3 point out strengths and weaknesses of Garland's fiction. Reamer says: Whatever their artistic merit, his stories are still worth reading for their historical and sociological values. He feels that Garland was the pioneer in this matter of handling of reservation Indian, and that by his true and sympathetic portraits he made a contribution of lasting importance to American literature. Finally, Reamer describes Garland as a diligent reformer with more creditable success in respect to American Indian than other critics will admit.4

History · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights