The International Reach of E. Pauline Johnson / Tekahionwake

Abstract

Canada’s first notable Indigenous literary author, the Mohawk writer E. Pauline Johnson / Tekahionwake (1861-1913), appealed primarily to Canadian audiences, who valued her publications and recitations for their contribution to their sense of belonging to the places to which they or their families had immigrated. Her enthralling performance of Indigeneity extended to the larger English-speaking world, and, in line with the international publishing conditions of her era, she frequently depended upon American and British publication venues, sometimes modifying her work and her self-presentation to appeal to the expectations of foreign audiences. Many decades after her death, her contexts of reception were significantly expanded by new translations of her work, often in unexpected locales.