N. Scott Momaday (1934–2024)
Author of House Made of Dawn
About the Author
Navarre Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934 in Lawton, Okla. to Kiowa parents who successfully bridged the gap between Native American and white ways, but remained true to their heritage. Momaday attended the University of New Mexico and earned an M.A and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in show more 1963. A member of the Gourd Dance Society of the Kiowa Tribe, Momaday has received a plethora of writing accolades, including the Academy of American Poets prize for The Bear and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for House Made of Dawn. He also shared the Western Heritage Award with David Muench in 1974 for the nonfiction book Colorado: Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring, and he is the author of the film adaptation of Frank Water's novel, The Man Who Killed the Deer. His work, The Names is composed of tribal tales, boyhood memories, and family histories. Another book, The Way to Rainy Mountain, melds myth, history, and personal recollection into a Kiowa tribe narrative. Throughout his writings, Momaday celebrate his Kiowa Native American heritage in structure, theme, and subject matter, often dealing with the man-nature relationship as a central theme and sustaining the Indian oral tradition. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Library of Congress
Works by N. Scott Momaday
Three Plays: The Indolent Boys, Children of the Sun, and The Moon in Two Windows (Stories & Storytellers) (2007) 20 copies
l'enfant des temps oubliés 3 copies
The Transformation 1 copy
Grand Canyon 1 copy
The Way to Rainy Mountian 1 copy
Names 1 copy
Gourd Dancer 1 copy
Associated Works
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 947 copies, 7 reviews
Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children (1988) — Foreword, some editions — 568 copies, 6 reviews
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020) — Contributor — 277 copies, 1 review
The Best of the West: An Anthology of Classic Writing from the American West (1991) — Contributor — 264 copies, 1 review
Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories (1991) — Contributor — 197 copies, 2 reviews
Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1900-1970 (1994) — Contributor — 130 copies, 1 review
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 88 copies
The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature (1979) — Contributor — 70 copies
Songs from This Earth on Turtle's Back: Contemporary American Indian Poetry (1983) — Contributor — 70 copies
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies, 1 review
Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1974-1994 (1996) — Contributor — 63 copies, 2 reviews
Native Heritage: Personal Accounts by American Indians, 1790 to the Present (1995) — Contributor — 60 copies
Nothing But the Truth: An Anthology of Native American Literature (2000) — Contributor — 52 copies, 1 review
The Lightning Within: An Anthology of Contemporary American Indian Fiction (1991) — Contributor — 26 copies
The Way of Kinship: An Anthology of Native Siberian Literature (First Peoples: New Directions Indigenous) (2010) — Foreword — 14 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Momaday, Navarre Scott
- Other names
- Momaday, N. Scott
- Birthdate
- 1934-02-27
- Date of death
- 2024-01-24
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Kiowa
USA - Birthplace
- Lawton, Oklahoma, USA
- Place of death
- Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Places of residence
- Lawton, Oklahoma, USA (birth)
Jemez Springs, New Mexico, USA - Education
- University of New Mexico
Stanford University - Occupations
- short-story writer
novelist
professor - Relationships
- Momaday, Natachee Scott (mother)
Momaday, Alfred (father) - Organizations
- University of Arizona
University of Regensburg
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Santa Barbara - Awards and honors
- National Medal of Arts (2007)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature ∙ 1970)
Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (1983)
Oklahoma Poet Laureate
Guggenheim Fellowship
Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)
Members
Reviews
Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday
Short, but beautifully evocative.
"There are things in nature which engender an awful quiet in the heart of man; Devils Tower is one of them. Man must account for it. He must never fail to explain such a thing to himself, or else he is estranged forever from the universe."
As much as I hate to use an overused term, this book has a very organic quality to it. It is about finding balance in the world. It is about awareness and understanding -- personal, cultural, and societal. All of these forces impact each person in different ways. This books feels like an argument for not forgetting the past while still moving forward to the future.
The prose in this book is -- not surprisingly -- very poetic in nature. It feels like a song -- maybe even a lullaby. The words just carry one gently forward and the story becomes a comfortable blanket. At the same time, the book points out social issues that may or may not have changed in the 50+ years since it was written.
I am pretty sure this is a book I will return to as I think there is much more to be gleaned from the text and it was such an enjoyable read.… (more)
As much as I hate to use an overused term, this book has a very organic quality to it. It is about finding balance in the world. It is about awareness and understanding -- personal, cultural, and societal. All of these forces impact each person in different ways. This books feels like an argument for not forgetting the past while still moving forward to the future.
The prose in this book is -- not surprisingly -- very poetic in nature. It feels like a song -- maybe even a lullaby. The words just carry one gently forward and the story becomes a comfortable blanket. At the same time, the book points out social issues that may or may not have changed in the 50+ years since it was written.
I am pretty sure this is a book I will return to as I think there is much more to be gleaned from the text and it was such an enjoyable read.… (more)
While evocative of a mythopoeic beginning of the Kiowa ancestral history, the narrative didn't flow very clearly. There were confusing passages that seemed to repeat earlier histories but set later in time. However these drawbacks didn't obscure the strong imagery of these peoples lives and the very real journey taken to arrive in the southern plains. This story also provided reminiscences of Momaday's childhood and memories of a beloved grandmother and a livelihood lost in a modern world.
Reason read: Pulitzer winner
This book, by Native American author N. Scott Momaday, won the Pulitzer in 1969. This author is described as the author who opened literature for Native American authors and he is listed as the inspiration for Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, as several other Native American Authors. This is the story of a returning WWII vet to his reservation and the struggles to fit in. The theme is alienation. The book started as poetry, then stories and morphed into a novel and it reads as if it doesn't quite fit any form. The title is a reference to the land and its people. I did not enjoy this book. Rating 3.2… (more)
This book, by Native American author N. Scott Momaday, won the Pulitzer in 1969. This author is described as the author who opened literature for Native American authors and he is listed as the inspiration for Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, as several other Native American Authors. This is the story of a returning WWII vet to his reservation and the struggles to fit in. The theme is alienation. The book started as poetry, then stories and morphed into a novel and it reads as if it doesn't quite fit any form. The title is a reference to the land and its people. I did not enjoy this book. Rating 3.2… (more)
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- 41
- Also by
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- Popularity
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- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 62
- ISBNs
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