Title: “Native Literary Aesthetics Must Be Politicized”: The Multi-dimensional Image of Ama in Power and Linda Hogan’s Literary Creation

Abstract: As a famous contemporary Native American writer, Linda Hogan has shown her biggest concern over the survival problem of Native Americans, focusing on Native Americans’ own stories and cultures. Power is naturally no exception. In this novel, the image of Ama has deepened our understanding of the survival predicament of Native Americans, particularly Native American women marginalized by both domestic colonial power and the patriarchal system. In Power, Hogan portrays Ama as “The Woman Who Watches over the World” though she is only a subaltern woman and is a vague, or maybe even a triple-whammy and thereby cannot speak in a court law. Undoubtedly, through the characterization of Ama, a Native American woman of multi-dimensional scope, Hogan calls for Native Americans to walk out of the survival predicament and to find the way to self-salvation. In this sense, Ama is the spokeswoman of Hogan, embodying Hogan’s view of literary creation.

Keywords: Linda Hogan, Power, Native American women, subaltern

Authors: Juan Long, Professor, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Wenting Liang, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.