The Fus Fixico Letters - Hardcover

Posey, Alexander Lawrence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803237049 ISBN 13: 9780803237049

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1993

Synopsis

Alexander Posey (1873-1908) was the most accomplished Indian writer of his day and one of the most important in American history. A well-known lyric poet, journalist, and political humorist in the Creek Nation, his literary works excited admiration and envy beyond the Indian Territory and throughout the country. His most significant contribution to literature is the body of humorous articles now called The Fus Fixico Letters.

In 1902 in the Indian Journal, his newspaper, Posey introduced his most beloved persona, Fus Fixico (or, in English, “Heartless Bird”), an alleged conservative “Snake” Creek. Until Posey's death in 1908, Fixico retailed his conversations with his friends Hotgun and Toofpafka Micco, conveying their points of view about Indian politics, the prospects for an Indian state joining the Union, the irresponsibility of distant newspapers that reported on Indian events without stepping a foot from the road, and many other topics.

This collection is especially timely since very little is known or appreciated about American Indian literature prior to the 1960s. A labor of years, it has taken uncommon diligence to find and annotate the letters, some of which now exist in a single fragile copy of the Indian Journal. There are 72 letters in all.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Littlefield is the author of Alex Posey: Creek Poet, Journalist, and Humorist. He is the director of the American Native Press Archives.

Professor A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff's foreword is a tribute to Carol Hunter, long a champion of Posey's writings, began work on this project until her life was cut short in 1987.

Reviews

A Creek journalist and poet living and writing in Indian Territory at the turn of the century, Posey wrote these letters under the pseudonym Fus Fixico ("Heartless Bird"); they appeared in the Indian Journal , the newspaper he ran from Eufala, Creek Nation, from 1902 to 1908. Written in Indian-English dialect, the letters captured readers' imagination with their humor and commentary on contemporary events, making Posey "one of the best Indian humorists of all time." An excellent introduction by Littlefield, the author of a recent biography on Posey ( Alex Posey: Creek Poet, Journalist, and Humorist , Univ. of Nebraska Pr., 1992), places the letters in context. The editors provide extensive end notes for each of the 73 letters, giving a great deal of useful information about Creek life in Indian Territory at the time of its transition into statehood. An important contribution to the study of Indian literature.
- Mary B. Davis, Huntington Free Lib., Bronx, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803237049
• ISBN 13: 9780803237049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330