Zima v krvi – Welch James (2018)

The Western novel Winter in Blood, set in the 1960s, introduces readers to the life of an Indian community in the Fort Belknap reservation in the state of Montana, North America. The protagonist of the story and its narrator is an unnamed Indian young man, alienated from his family and land, tormented by a sense of existential emptiness, from which he vainly escapes into a Kerouac-like unrestrained life full of wild rides, alcohol, and casual sex. His excursions into the hostile world outside the reservation, initially motivated by the desire to reclaim estranged belongings, gradually transform into journeys to find his own identity and happiness. Moreover, his quest leads him to uncover an ancient family secret... The novella is the debut work of the classic of American Indian literature, James Welch (1940–2003). The author was one of the leading figures of the Native American Renaissance movement (L. M. Silková, L. Erdrich, etc.), which since the late 1960s has contributed to the revival of the historical and cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of North America. A film adaptation of the book was made in 2013.