Trickster changer: Louise Erdrich's polymorphous trickster tales

The major academic writings on the topic of the trickster can be compared to the trickster figures and the related mythological figure, Misshepeshu, developed by Louise Erdrich in her series of related novels about characters from the fictional places of Lake Matchimanito and Argus, North Dakota. In reaction to the simplified definitions of the trickster put forward by some academics, Erdrich frustrates those who try to follow the trickster in her novels. She does so by laying his tracks clearly in many places but making many of these trails lead to characters who are much too complex to fit neatly within conventional definitions of the trickster. By revealing characters who are much more complex than the trickster is often shown to be, Erdrich emphasizes the complexity of Native peoples and cultures.