Michael Dorris

Michael Dorris (January 30, 1945 - April 11, 1997) was a prominent Native American novelist and scholar. His most famous works include the non-fiction The Broken Cord and the novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. He was married to author Louise Erdrich. He committed suicide in 1997.

Biography

Dorris, born in Concord, NH to Jim and Mary Besy (Burkhardt) Dorris in Louisville, Kentucky, was of mixed Modoc Indian, Irish, and French blood. In 1971, he was one of the first unmarried men in the United States to adopt a child. His adopted son, a three-year-old Lakota boy named Reynold Abel, was eventually diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Dorris' struggles to understand and care for his son became the subject of his famous work The Broken Cord (in which he uses the pseudonym "Adam" for his son). Dorris went on to adopt two more Native American children, Jeffrey Sava in 1974 and Madeline Hannah in 1976, who probably both suffered from fetal alcohol effect.

Related Topics:
Concord, NH - Louisville, Kentucky - Modoc - Irish - French - 1971 - Lakota - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - 1974 - 1976

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In 1981, he married Erdrich, whom he met while teaching at Dartmouth College. She adopted his three children, and the couple also bore three children: Persia Andromeda, Pallas Antigone, and Aza Marion. Erdrich and Dorris contributed to one another's writing and wrote together under the pseudonym Milou North.

Related Topics:
1981 - Dartmouth College - Milou North

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In 1991, Reynold Abel was hit by a car and killed. In 1995, Dorris and Erdrich unsuccessfully pursued a court cases against Jeffrey Sava, whom they claimed was threatening them physically. Shortly afterward, Dorris and Erdrich separated and began divorce proceedings. On April 10, 1997, Dorris used a combination of suffocation, drugs, and alcohol to commit suicide in the Brick Tower Motor Inn in Concord, New Hampshire. Shortly before his death, allegations surfaced of possible abuse against one of his daughters, but the case files were closed with his death and never substantiated or disapproved. In conversations with friends before his death, Dorris maintained his innocence, and his lack of faith that the legal system would exonerate him.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1995 - April 10 - 1997 - Concord, New Hampshire

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