Award-winning poet, novelist and essayist Sherman Alexie came to campus Monday night as part of a tour promoting his latest novel, ‘Flight.’ Before a packed crowd in Columbia 150, Alexie spoke to University students and fans in the community about everything from his fear of flying on airplanes to the secret to a good marriage.
“I am terrified of flying,” Alexie admitted. “I can see the headline now: ‘Native American writer dies promoting ‘Flight.’ With a big picture of a plane on fire. The only thing I can think is it’d really help book sales.” This was only the beginning of the audience’s constant laughter, which lasted for the entire hour-and-45-minute lecture.
Alexie spoke little of his newest book. He instead focused on his writing career as a whole and often digressed from his main point.
“‘Flight’ is the first novel I’ve published in 10 years. I’ve written three others that were terrible,” Alexie said. “I have it in my will, though, that they can be published posthumously. I came up with the title for that collection, and it’s ‘I’m glad I’m not here for this.’”
Alexie talked about his tour, providing detailed anecdotes for each of the cities to which he has traveled. Then came the airport humor.
“In airports I wish people knew what (ethnicity) I was because you feel safer,” he joked. “Indians are really happy for Islamic Arabs because it makes us looks so good. (When really) We have about 15 billion more reasons to terrorize you than any Muslim.”
“There’s never going to be a Native American suicide bomber. Never ever. Number one, because in order to have suicide bombers you need the apocalypse. And we don’t have that,” Alexie said. “And number two, suicide bombing implies being on time.”
Alexie played on several stereotypes throughout the evening. At one point, he impersonated a fictional character called “Public Figure Indian” based on cliché Native American guest lecturers who speak to mass audiences.
“Hello. My English name is Sherman. My Indian name is Squirrel,” he began. Met with uncontrollable laughter, Alexie continued playing the part. “I’m from the white-water rafting clan. I’m going to speak to you very, very slowly. This, despite the fact that I have Ph.D. in English literature.”
“But I will speak slowly to make it appear that I have difficulty with the Colonial rosebush we call the English language,” he said. “I will mention the animal every two and a half minutes. This, despite the fact that I live in a condo.”
“I will say ‘creator’ whenever I can’t think of anything else to say,” Alexie continued. “And I will often let there be” – long pause – “long pauses, which is the public speaker’s trick for creating the illusion of profound thought.” Encouraged by roaring laughter and bursts of applause, Alexie continued.
“I will make eye contact with you so you feel the full brunt of my indigenous wisdom,” he said. “But what I am really doing is looking for the hot blonde I’d like to have guilt sex with later.”
After breaking stereotypes and ignoring the standard of what may be considered politically correct, Alexie talked about his role as an outspoken Native American writer.
“I get grief from all sorts of people,” he said. “But the two groups of people I get the most death threats from are NRA members and vegans.”
After bashing vegans for a little while, he posed his final thought on the matter.
“If you can get a cow up here that can beat me in a poetry slam, I’ll stop eating them,” Alexie said. “There’s only so many words that rhyme with moo.” Again, the crowd broke up laughing.
University freshman Annika Gielen said she read Alexie’s books at her Seattle high school as part of the English curriculum.
“They’re funny. He has a really characteristic way of writing. You can hear the reservation in his way of speaking,” Gielen said. “He kind of makes fun of it in a positive way, but he plays with it a little bit.”
University junior Alexis Buschert said the lecture “was totally not what I was expecting.”
“I was expecting him to be a lot older and more immersed in his heritage and take himself really seriously,” Buschert said. “But he’s not like that, and that was what was so great about it.”
Buschert said it’s easy to relate to his writing because he makes his main characters young adults.
“It’s so easy to relate to his writing from our age group – in ‘Flight’ especially because the kid in the book starts out at 15 years old,” Buschert said. “He’s like your peer with all these problems.”
Alexie, who described himself as “a cynical bastard,” said his three primary influences are Anton Chekhov, Emily Dickinson, and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”
“Those three will get you through,” Alexie said.
The popularity his writing has gained is rewarding, he said, because people really listen to him.
“People pay attention,” he said. “You can’t ask for much more than that.”