Indigeneity, Belonging, and the Afterlife of Colonialism: Morgan Talty’s Fire Exit (2024)
Abstract
Following his first success with the story collection, Night of the Living Rez (2022), the Native American writer Morgan Talty published in 2024 his first novel, Fire Exit, again to great acclaim, marking him as a new Indigenous voice to pay attention to. This paper illustrates how, different from other creative works by contemporary Native American writers, Fire Exit presents a captivating story not only of life on and off the reservation but mostly of the various personal, legal, and cultural complications of present-day Indigenous belonging. Demonstrating the author’s search for some deeper truth beyond the lived reality of Native descent, the essay explores in detail the novel’s portrayal of the intricate, multilayered meaning of inclusion, exclusion, citizenship, identity, blood quantum, postcolonial survival, and, more specifically, the complex implications of “internal tribal matters” for present-day Native Americans of the Penobscot Tribe in Maine.
Keywords
Indigenous belonging, legal status, inclusion, exclusion, post/colonial history, blood quantum
Supporting Institution
Dartmouth College
References
- Bayor, Ronald H., editor. Race and Ethnicity in America: A Concise History. Columbia UP, 2003.
- Berger, Bethany. “Separate, Sovereign, and Subjugated: Native Citizenship and the 1790 Trade and Intercourse Act.” William and Mary Law Review, vol. 65, no. 5, 2024, pp. 1117–35, scholarship.law. wm.edu/wmlr/vol65/iss5/4/.
- Duthu, Bruce. “Interview with Morgan Talty.” 10 Jan. 2025, www.alumni.dartmouth.edu/stories-news/ dartmouth-book-club-fire-exit-author-morgan-talty-16-126.
- Edugyan, Esi. “A Tribal Eviction, a Blood Secret and the Knotty Question of Belonging.” Review of Fire Exit, by Morgan Talty. The New York Times, 2 June 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/06/02/books/review/ fire-exit-morgan-talty.html.
- Erdrich, Louise. The Round House: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2012.
- Hampton, Charlotte. “Review: Fire Exit Is Spellbinding.” Review of Fire Exit, by Morgan Talty. The Dartmouth, 12 July 2024, www.thedartmouth.com/article/2024/07/fire-exit-review.
- Lincoln, Kenneth. Native American Renaissance. U of California P, 1983.
- Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. Harper & Row, 1968.
- “Native American Heritage Month—A Reading List for Adults.” Flyleaf Books, 2025, www.flyleafbooks. com/native-american-heritage-adult.
- NoiseCat, Julian Brave, and Emily Kassie, directors. Sugarcane. National Geographic, 2024, films. nationalgeographic.com/sugarcane.