''The Trickster of Liberty'' is a 1988 novel by

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

that acts as a prequel to his earlier novels '' Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles'' and '' Griever: An American Monkey King in China''.Owens, Louis. ''Understanding the American Indian Novel'' pp. 250-254. The novel is a collection of stories about the

mixedblood Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...

descendants of Luster Browne and their lives on the

White Earth Indian Reservation The White Earth Indian Reservation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag, "Where there is an abundance of white clay") is the home to the White Earth Band, located in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in the state by land area. T ...

. The novel continues Vizenor's focus on mixedbloods and

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

s and includes characters from the previous novels, including Griever de Hocus and China Brown from ''Griever'' and Eternal Flame from ''Bearheart''. The novel develops Vizenor's rejection of social science theories that claim the trickster figure reflects an idea or model; to the contrary, Vizenor argues that the trickster is a purely linguistic phenomenon.Velie, Alan R. "Gerald Vizenor" in ''Dictionary of Native American Literature'', ed. Andrew Wiget. pp. 499-500. The novel also develops Vizenor's attack on the "invented Indian", including a commentary on the fate of

Ishi Ishi ( – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as many members of their parent tribe, the Yana) were kill ...

and a satire on Native American scholars who perpetuate stereotypes of Indian-ness.Blaeser, Kimberly M. "Gerald Vizenor" in ''The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature'', ed. Joy Porter and Kenneth M. Roemer. p. 265 The novel was republished under the title ''The Trickster of Liberty: Native Heirs to a Wild Baronage'' in 2005.

References

1988 American novels Native American novels Novels by Gerald Vizenor Novels set in Minnesota {{NorthAm-native-stub