Hotline Healers by Gerald R. Vizenor
"Hotline Healers" by Gerald R. Vizenor is a novel that artfully weaves themes of identity, humor, and satire through the experiences of its protagonist, Almost. Born on the fringes of the White Earth Indian Reservation, Almost represents a blend of cultural identities, described by Vizenor's term "crossblood." He is the son of a native nun and a priest, and his character embodies the trickster archetype, often challenging societal norms and authority figures.
The narrative takes a comedic turn when Almost is invited to deliver a commencement address, which culminates in a surprising and provocative speech. Vizenor enriches the story with satirical chapters, including one where Almost sets up a call-in service to connect troubled individuals with Native American healers. This segment serves as a parody of both New Age practices and commercial psychic services.
Throughout the novel, Vizenor critiques various cultural and political figures, including a fictional encounter with President Nixon that humorously ties back to historical events like the Watergate scandal. "Hotline Healers" also reflects Vizenor's personal experiences, imbuing the story with authenticity and depth. The novel is accessible to newcomers to Vizenor's work, offering a potent blend of laughter and reflection on cultural dynamics and identity.
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Hotline Healers by Gerald R. Vizenor
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1997
Type of work: Novel
The Work
“Almost Browne” is a play on words suggesting the crossbloodedness of the story’s protagonist. Almost received his name because he was born in the back of a car that was almost within Minnesota’s White Earth Indian Reservation. A crossblood, a term Vizenor invented, Almost is not quite Native American (brown), not quite white. He is the son of a native nun, Eternal Flame Browne, and a native priest, Father Mother Browne, whose trickster activities are motivated by the conviction that he is born to torment authority figures.
Like Vizenor, Almost is a trickster. Also like Vizenor, he teaches at the University of California at Berkeley as a member of the Transethic Situations Department. All goes well for him until the honor of delivering a commencement address befalls him. Almost, in full trickster form, gives a ribald speech that leaves students and faculty astounded.
Vizenor intersperses the novel with satirical chapters. In one such chapter, he has Almost establish a telephone call-in service that will connect troubled callers with Native American healers. This chapter is an obvious burlesque of the New Age and of the call-in psychic telephone services available at a price to troubled people.
In one of the novel’s few flashbacks, Almost has an offer from President Richard Nixon to become vice president provided that he will organize a Native American invasion that will free Cuba from communist rule and will bring down its president, Fidel Castro. Vizenor uses this proposal to explain the eighteen-minute gap in the Watergate tapes that caused so much consternation during the hearings in the early 1970’s and that forced Nixon’s resignation from the presidency.
Vizenor loved taking pot shots at Nixon, whose attraction to Native Americans involved only his own political ambitions. In this novel, he takes similar pots shots at luminaries as diverse as Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the guru of black literary criticism whose seminal book The Signifying Monkey (1988) touches on some of Vizenor’s interests; Ishmael Reed, the black poet and novelist, who also uses the monkey tradition in some of his writing; Gloria Steinem, the feminist activist, whose calls for gender equality shook the nation; and Claude Levi-Strauss, the celebrated French anthropologist and linguist.
Among the novel’s more hilarious chapters is one that focuses on a typically silly faculty meeting of the English department at Oklahoma University. In this chapter, Vizenor satirizes several of the colleagues who annoy him and indirectly lauds the few whom he considered his supporters.
Although this novel includes a great many references to Vizenor’s earlier writing, making it desirable for readers to be familiar with his earlier work, the novel can be read by first-time Vizenor readers for its sheer comic impact. Vizenor’s own activities as a trickster throughout his life, particularly during his tormented early life following the death of his father and stepfather within a short period, inform this work with an authenticity that readers will immediately glean and appreciate.
Bibliography
Blaeser, Kimberly M. Gerald Vizenor: Writing in the Oral Tradition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
Hochbruck, Wolfgang. “Breaking Away: The Novels of Gerald Vizenor.” World Literature Today 66 (Spring, 1992): 274-278.
Isernhagen, Hartwig. Momaday, Vizenor, Armstrong: Conversations on American-Indian Writing. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Lee, A. Robert, ed. Loosening the Seams: Interpretations of Gerald Vizenor. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Press, 2000.
Owens, Louis, ed. Studies in American Indian Literatures 9 (Spring, 1997). Special issue devoted to Vizenor.
Vizenor, Gerald. Interior Landscapes: Autobiographical Myths and Metaphors. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990.