The Life and Work of Janet Campbell Hale
In their fight for a recognition of their works in the detrimental part of the American society, one female writer in the name of Janet Campbell Hale has emerged and opened the eyes, not only of her race but the others as well, to the challenging conditions faced by the native American (Indian) literature. Hale’s life and literary works are success stories and her personal wanting of overcoming family struggles and professional recognition are solid proofs which made her one of the well-know and respected native American authors.
According to Gretchen Bataille, Kathleen Sands and Frederick Hale, Janet Campbell Hale was born on January 11, 1946 in Riverside, California and was the youngest among the four daughters of Nicholas Patrick, a full-blooded Coeur d’Alene Indian veteran of World War I that worked as a carpenter and Margaret Sullivan Campbell, a Kootenay, Irish, and Ojibwa (qtd. in Westfall).
Even before having a formal education, Hale has already manifested her literary inclination through her poetry and the struggles within her family and love life has honed her literary career. Hale’s liking to literary poetry was her outlet and rectification of the maltreatment and alienation she received from her own family members. From teen-age years to adulthood, Hale utilized poetry and other forms of writing to reveal and redeem herself. Hale said that writing about her life is the entire means of realizing what it is all about. “I wrote poetry, stories, essays because of a deep personal need” (“Hale” 246).
Hale’s native American or Indian literature is bewitchingly powerful and effective in such a way that its literary shape and cultural perspective are evidently in contradiction to the controlling and well-accepted literature of the white culture. This opposition enables an evaluation and creates dispute and debate among the white and native American. Indian literature was apparent in Hale’s writings as they usually presented and clearly manifested the ordinary stereotypes that Indians were, whether they are noble and natural men or cruel beasts. Being true to herself, Hale asserted the humanity of Indians, the variation among themselves and their deviation from the white Americans as well the profound significance of their custom and society. Despite some changes and challenges, Hale’s works have preserved the Indian literature and culture (Walsh, 1995).
According to Walsh, native American writers do not hide and usually employ their own experiences in their literary works. Indian writers argued that there is no need to fabricate their literature and other forms of writings because the events in their lives and that of being a Native American alone entails less decoration and already a mighty presentation of Indian life itself. Walsh has called this the “let-me-tell-it-like-it-is” Indian attitude and the above noted “as-told-to” accounts. Walsh noted that Hale’s 1985 novel, The Jailing of Cecelia Capture, was depicted almost directly from her own life, and her 1993 autobiography, Bloodlines (subtitled “Odyssey of a Native Daughter”), clearly exposed the Indian writer as the origin of the said novel.
Walsh further said that the novel chronicled the transitions in Hale’s life that enabled her to learn how her whole life has turned into a virtual captivity. There are apparent similarities in the lives of Hale and the novel’s main character (Cecilia) as shown with their relationships with their parents, siblings and husbands. Hale’s somehow vulgar reputation was evident in her writing techniques such as the use of somewhat sensual and sensational terms and representations – elements which are very close to those of Hale’s life. Hale was very true to herself in insinuating in her novel that she is an alcoholic who has had numerous one-night stands that are even vividly depicted. While Bloodlines is intended for a common audience and used clean terminologies and the storytelling style, Walsh stressed that “the novel is grittier and rawer, explicit in language and faithful to the details of everyday experience, sometimes so much so that it borders on sensationalism.” Meanwhile, the significance of Hale’s novel and autobiography is that their main characters usually elude from devastating and impaired Indian status.
Hale’s family origin, which from the start did not expect her to be a well-remembered writer of their race, has been a witness and succeeded life’s many tests and misfortunes. From here, she emerged a wiser and more solid female Indian writer who sees not only in a woman’s perspective. She now reaches out to the true facets of the American community as well as true meaning of her colorful life.
Summing up, the native American literature writer has grown and matured
considerably in the past decades. It was not an easy task as in the life and works of Hale, who has to overcome the persistent stereotypes of the dignified brutality of the previous
century and must go beyond the anomalies of the society and the struggle of the present culture. Hale succeeded in achieving a mastery of non-Indian techniques and literary
forms and, at the same time, maintain his native literature as an authentic Indian voice and vision representing her real past and present circumstances.
Works Cited
Bataille, Gretchen, and Kathleen M. Sands. “Women’s Autobiography.” Dictionary of Native American Literature. Ed. Andrew Wiget. New York: Garland, 1994.
“Hale, Janet Campbell.” Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series. Vol. 75. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 245-246.
Hale, Frederick. Janet Campbell Hale. Boise State U. Western Writers Ser. 125. Boise, ID: Boise State U, 1996.
Trout, Lawana. Native American Literature: An Anthology. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC
Publishing, 1999. 777 pp.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color. 9 April 2001.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/JanetCampbellHale.html
Walsh, Dennis. “The Place of Janet Campbell Hale and Sherman Alexie in American Indian Literature.” Tough Paradise: The Literature of Idaho and the Intermountain West. Boise: Idaho Humanities Council, 1995.
Westfall, Connie. Janet Campbell Hale-1946. Personal and Professional Biography. Advanced English III Emmett High School, Emmett, ID. Retrieved January 21, 2008 from http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/hale_janet_campbell_id.htm