Written to address critical problems that arise in the study of American Indian literature, the essays in this volume feature critical studies that explain or make use of basic themes, motifs, structures, and symbols found in traditional and modern American Indian literature. In conjunction with the essays, the book provides a wide range of basic course designs. The volume includes the following general categories: oral literature; personal narrative, authobiography, and intermediate literature; American Indian women's literature; modern and contemporary American Indian literature, and the Indian in American literature. A section on resources concludes the document. It includes: "American Indian Literatures: A Guide to Anthologies, Texts, and Research" (A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff); a list of selected periodicals and special issues of periodicals; a list of selected presses; and a list of works cited. (HOD)