Les Sauvages Américains

Gordon M. Sayre is professor of English and folklore at the University of Oregon.
For more information about Gordon M. Sayre, visit the Author Page.

“A wide-ranging yet concise study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century descriptions by colonial explorers of the indigenous North American Algonquin and Iroquois peoples and the rhetorical impact of these descriptions on Europe and the colonial Americas. . . . An important addition to any library.”--Religious Studies Review

“Makes a profound contribution to our understanding of New World natural history. . . . A valuable and intriguing study, whose emphasis on French travel writing is especially important. Sayre’s focus is sharp, his analysis keen.”Reviews in American History

“Importantly enriches our understanding of colonial texts and the manner in which such documents record cultural information.”--American Literature

“Gordon Sayre’s book is worthwhile reading for any scholar seeking to understand how Native Americans were represented in colonial literature and how these representations influenced European and American thought. A carefully researched and documented study. . . . Les Sauvages Americains is more than a good book about representations of Native Americans in colonial literature. It is a significant contribution to American literary history, one that asks us to rethink some of our most basic assumptions about how Europeans thought and wrote about Native Americans.”--Christianity and Literature

“A thought-provoking analysis of some previously little-considered aspects of early European-Amerindian relations. . . . His work still makes clear the influence of the past on aboriginal political and social issues of today.”--Olive Patricia Dickason, William and Mary Quarterly

“Widely researched, combining ethnohistory with literary methodology, and quoting original French texts at length with English translations immediately following, Les Sauvages Americains offers new approaches and breathes some new life into some familiar areas. . . . A useful contribution to the literature on how Europeans encountered, perceived, and constructed Indian people and of how Europeans themselves were subtly changed by the experience.”--New England Quarterly