The Surrounded: Resources

• The Surrounded - Moderated by Dottie Susag
• The Surrounded - General (unmoderated)
• Recommendations for the 2010 One Book Montana selection

The Surrounded: A Literary Map (developed by Missoula Public Library)

The Surrounded, D’Arcy McNickle’s groundbreaking 1936 novel chronicling the shifting relationships between Europeans and Native Americans on the Flathead Indian Reservation, has been named the 2009 One Book Montana selection.

The story of Archilde León, who has returned from the big city to his father’s ranch on the reservation, has long been considered one of the early masterpieces of fiction by or about Native Americans. The Surrounded will spur intergenerational and cross-cultural conversations across the state.

The One Book Montana program offers an invitation to all Montanans to read and discuss The Surrounded during the summer and fall. Humanities Montana will provide reading and discussion guides; suggestions for library, school and book group projects; and events at the Montana Festival of the Book (October 22-24, 2009).

Thanks to the support of the book’s publisher, University of New Mexico Press, a limited number of copies are available for short-term loans to book groups. Contact Humanities Montana Associate Director Kim Anderson at 406-243-6022 for further information.

Born in 1904 in St. Ignatius on the Flathead Indian Reservation, William D’Arcy McNickle was a novelist, author, employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, director of American Indian Development Inc., community organizer, activist, professor of anthropology, historian and program director of the Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian.

An enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, McNickle attended mission and government schools for Indian children in Montana and Oregon. He then attended The University of Montana, Oxford University and the University of Grenoble.

“Simple, clear, direct, devoid of affectations and fast-moving,” Oliver La Farge wrote in a review on the book’s initial publication. “The Surrounded is as good as it is because it grew out of D’Arcy McNickle’s most deeply felt experiences, because it is informed by his careful study of anthropology and history and because it is shaped by his artistry,” said Lawrence Towner.

1. Supplemental Reading

• Bevis, William W. “McNickle: Homing In.” Chapter 6 in Ten Tough Trips: Montana Writers and the West. Ca. 1990. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
• Drinnon, Richard. Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building. Ca. 1980. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
• McNickle, D’Arcy. Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Owens, Louis. “Maps of the Mind: John Joseph Mathews and D’Arcy McNickle.” Chapter 3 in Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
• Rains, Jim. “’He Never Wanted to Forget It’: Contesting the Idea of History in D’Arcy McNickle’s The Surrounded.” Chapter 8 in All Our Stories Are Here: Critical Perspectives on Montana Literature. Ed. Brady Harrison. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

2. Films

• "The Place of Falling Waters." 1991. [The volatile relationship between the Confederated Salish and the Kootenai tribes and a major hydroelectric dam within the Flathead Reservation]
• “Playing for the World.” 2009. [Based on the award-winning Full Court Quest, this film tells the story of Indian women participating in the Fort Shaw boarding school basketball team that won the title at the 1904 World’s Fair]

3. Discussion Questions

• One of Archilde’s challenges is finding a place, a way of belonging, on the Flathead Reservation. “Indian-ness” is a construct for D’Arcy McNickle, but "inventing" doesn't have to be inauthentic. How does Archilde make a self out of overlapping and sometimes conflicting identities? Or put differently, how does he reinvent himself so that he can go home?
• What role does McNickle's Metis background play in the writing of The Surrounded? (To help answer this question, you might consult Dorothy Parker’s biography of the writer, Singing an Indian Song.)
• Many readers find chapter 27 haunting, unforgettable, somehow crucial. This is the nightmarish chapter in which Archilde attempts to help an old mare. Why is this chapter so important to understanding the novel?

2009 marks the seventh year Humanities Montana has offered the statewide One Book program. Humanities Montana is indebted to its Montana Center for the Book advisory committee for assistance in choosing this year’s selection. Advisory committee members include William Bickle III, John Clayton, Bill Cochran, Penny Hughes-Briant, William Marcus, Rick Newby, Barbara Theroux and Niki Whearty. One of the core beliefs underlying the Montana Center for the Book is that literature—stories, words, poetry and history—can bring us closer together and give us deeper understanding of one another. The One Book Montana program can be a valuable part of that process.