Culture as Reflected in Fiction is a book based on a large collection of material consisting of works by and about Native Americans and the Sami people of Scandinavia. The book's purpose is manifold, but first and foremost it focuses on how authors of fiction from two minority groups - the Sami people in Scandinavia and Native Americans in the USA - describe characters and their situations in their respective cultures. Further, the book gives an account of how American and Scandinavian writers of fiction describe these two minority groups in their own countries. The study of these descriptions, given by authors who are looking at a culture and a history different from their own, shows some quite dramatic differences and similarities in how the culture and characters of these two minority groups have been reflected in fiction. Owing to the substantial number of authors and descriptions used in this study, a quantitative method is used as support for the qualitative one. Åsebrit Sundquist holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American Literature from the University of Oslo (1984). She has published three other books (Pocahontas & Co., 1987, Sacajawea & Co., 1991, and Redpersons & Whitepersons, 1996), as well as several articles on literature both by and about Native Americans, and comparative studies on Native American and Chicano literature. After 1984, she has been been a Visiting Scholar several times at Stanford University, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Arizona.
