2.  Literature Review 

The researches on Louise Erdrich’s works mainly focus on the works she created in earlier periods while paying little attention to her creation in later periods. Since The Round House was published only a few years ago, there are just a few researches on this novel. According to my investigation, research papers of postgraduates and doctors in the ProQuest concerning The Round House are vacant. However, there are still some book reviews and award reports.

In “Take Your Medicine”, a review of The Round House by Louise Erdrich, D.G. Meyers briefly introduces the plots of this novel and emphasizes that the novel doesn’t aim to arouse readers’ outrage but to analyze “the interwoven history of tribe and family across generations and into future is the point” (76). In “Law Versus Love in The Round House”, Thomas Matchie discusses relationships between love and law in The Round House with reference to the notion of law in W.H.Auden’ s poem “Law Like Love”. He points out that it’s the first time for Erdrich to “juxtapose love and law to explore injustice that interrupts the life of a loving Chippewa family simply because there is no legal consistency on which they can depend” (353).

Despite the fact that Chinese begin researches of Erdrich’ s novels later than foreign scholars, the number of the studies of The Round House are increasing. There are two monographs which are related to the study on The Round House. In terms of papers, many postgraduates, doctors and learners published their studies. Song Sainan explains “wiindigoo”(150) and analyzes the assaults brought by wiindigoo characters in this novel- Linden. She also discusses “the survival in wiindigoo’ s mouth”. She points out that the novel expresses Erdrich’ s worry of Indian women’ s survival and her retrospection towards American Indians’ future. Hu Yuting uses the theory of trauma and recovery to examine huge assaults resulted from injustice of law and American Indians belief and power facing miseries. Wen Yuqing focuses on the predicaments of Native women. Despite of the unfair law in this novel, the Native women are still persistent and optimistic. Yang Heng also points out the tangled law of American Indians. Also she puts forward a “circular structure” (88) in Native’s culture which is a special recognition mode of the nature in American Indians’ mind.