N. SCOTT MOMADAY

“Este libro es una obra de ficción. Henry McCarty, alias Billy the Kid, es un personaje histórico al igual que quienes lo rodearon: Pat Garrett, Bob Olinger, J. W. Bell y sor Blandina Segale. También

« Dans un pays très ancien, que l’on disait éternel, il y avait une maison faite d’aube, de pollen et de pluie. La plaine resplendissait des reflets miroitants des argiles et des sables et les collin

La casa hecha de alba (título original House Made of Dawn) retrata la intricada vida de Abel, indio veterano de la segunda guerra mundial y expresidiario, que zozobra entre dos culturas. A lo largo de la novela y a traves de los diversos personajes se exponen las actitudes de la sociedad norteamericana de la epoca frente a los nativos americanos: Francisco, el abuelo de Abel; la esposa blanca de un medico urbano, un predicador cristiano, el Sacerdote del Sol, un indio navajo y la hija de un granjero blanco.Momaday combina magnificamente la ficcion con la poesia para transmitir el respeto por la tierra de los nativos americanos y reflejar la sociedad multicultural de la epoca. Una novela que no dejara indiferente a nadie.

Although highly regarded as a writer of fiction, nonfiction, and drama, N. Scott Momaday considers himself primarily a poet. This first book of his poems to be published in over a decade, Again the Far Morning comprises a varied selection of new work along with the best from his four earlier books of poems: Angle of Geese (1974), The Gourd Dancer (1976), In the Presence of the Sun (1992), and In the Bears House (1999).To read Momadays poems from the last forty years is to understand that his focus on Kiowa traditions and other American Indian myths is further evidence of his spectacular formal accomplishments. His early syllabic verse, his sonnets, and his mastery of iambic pentameter are echoed in more recent work, and prose poetry has been part of his oeuvre from the beginning. The new work includes the elegies and meditations on mortality that we expect from a writer whose career has been as long as Momadays, but it also includes light verse and sprightly translations of Kiowa songs.

Tai-me is a traditional medicine bundle used by the Kiowa in their Sun Dance. The bundle has been handed down from generation to generation, through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. N. Scott Momaday made this discovery when he began his journey to learn about the Kiowa and his paternal lineage.Following the death of his beloved Kiowa grandmother, Aho, in 1963 Momaday set out on his quest to learn and document the Kiowa heritage, stories, and folklore. His Kiowa-speaking father, artist Al Momaday, served as translator when Scott visited tribal elders to ask about their memories and stories. Scott gathered these stories into The Journey of Tai-me.Originally published only in a limited edition in 1967, The Journey of Tai-me is recognized as the basis from which Momadays more popular The Way to Rainy Mountain grew. When compiling The Way to Rainy Mountain, published by the University of New Mexico Press, Momaday added his own memories and some poems.

The Way to Rainy Mountain recalls the journey of Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, and of Tai-mes people in three unique voices: the legendary, the historical, and the contemporary. It is also the personal journey of N. Scott Momaday, who on a pilgrimage to the grave of his Kiowa grandmother traversed the same route taken by his forebears and in so doing confronted his Kiowa heritage. It is an evocation of three things in particular: a landscape that is incomparable, a time that is gone forever, and the human spirit, which endures. Celebrating fifty years since its 1969 release, this new edition offers a moving new preface and invites a new generation of readers to explore the Kiowa myths, legends, and history with Pulitzer Prizewinning author N. Scott Momaday.

In the Presence of the Sun presents 30 years of selected works by [N. Scott] Momaday, the well-known Southwest Native American novelist. His unadorned poetry, which recounts fables and rituals of the Kiowa nation, conveys the deep sense of place of the Native American oral tradition. Here are dream-songs about animals (bear, bison, terrapin) and life away from urban alienation, an imagined re-creation based on Billy the Kid, prose poems about Plains Shields (and a fascinating discussion of their background), and new poems that utilize primary colors (forms of the earth) to express instinctive continuities of a pre-Columbian vision.--Library JournalThe strong, spare beauty of In the Presence of the Sun is compelling evidence that Scott Momaday is one of the most versatile and distinguished artists in America today.--Peter Matthiessen. . . the images, the voices, the people are shadowy, elusive, burning with invention, like flames against a dark sky. For behind them is always the artist-author himself . . . a man with a sacred investiture. Strong medicine, strong art indeed.--The New York Times Book Review

Let me say at the outset that this book is not about Bear (he would be spoken of in the singular and masculine, capitalized and without an article), or it is only incidentally about him. I am less interested in defining the being of Bear than in trying to understand something about the spirit of wilderness, of which Bear is a very particular expression. . . . Bear is a template of the wilderness.--from the IntroductionSince receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his novel House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday has had one of the most remarkable careers in twentieth-century American letters. Here, in In the Bears House, Momaday passionately explores themes of loneliness, sacredness, and aggression through his depiction of Bear, the one animal that has both inspired and haunted him throughout his lifetime.With transcendent dignity and gentleness, In the Bears House celebrates Momadays extraordinary creative vision and evolution as one of our most gifted artists.

[Momaday] must be ranked among the greatest of our contemporary writers.American Scholar"Momadays poems are rich with description, lush with dreaming, and filled with magic." Library Journal (starred review)From Pulitzer Prize winner and revered literary master N. Scott Momaday, a beautiful and enchanting new poetry collection, at once a celebration of language, imagination, and the human spirit.Language and the imagination work hand in hand, and together they enable us to reveal us to ourselves in story. That is indeed a magical process. . . . We imagine and we dream, and we translate our dreams into language. from the PrefaceA singular voice in American letters, Momadays love of language and storytelling are on full display in this brilliant new collection comprising one hundred sketches or dream drawingsfurnishings of the mindas he calls them. Influenced by his Native American heritage and its oral storytelling traditions, here are prose poems about nature, animals, warriors, and hunters, as well as meditations that explore themes of love, loss, time, and memory. Each piece, full of wisdom and wonder, showcases Momadays extraordinary lyrical talent, the breadth of his imagination, and the transformative power of his writing. Dream Drawings is also illustrated with a selection of black-and-white paintings by Momaday that capture the spirit of his prose.Poignant, inspired, and timeless, this is a collection that will nourish the soul.Each piece is a portal into the Pulitzer Prize winners vast inner world.Prose Poems as Dream Drawings: One hundred powerful sketchesor "dream drawings," as Momaday calls themthat blur the line between poetry and prose. Oral Storytelling Tradition: A voice steeped in Native American heritage, where every piece feels like a story shared across generations. Meditations on Time and Memory: Lyrical explorations of love, loss, and the nature of time, capturing moments of profound wisdom and wonder. Art and Words Combined: Illustrated with a selection of Momadays own black-and-white paintings that capture the spirit of his writing and deepen the reading experience.

"Dazzling. . . . In glittering prose, Momaday recalls stories passed down through generations, illuminating the earth as a sacrosanct place of wonder and abundance. At once a celebration and a warning, Earth Keeper is an impassioned defense of all that our endangered planet stands to lose." EsquireA magnificent testament to the earth, from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday.One of the most distinguished voices in American letters, N. Scott Momaday has devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially its oral tradition. A member of the Kiowa tribe, Momaday was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and grew up on Navajo, Apache, and Peublo reservations throughout the Southwest. It is a part of the earth he knows well and loves deeply.In Earth Keeper, he reflects on his native ground and its influence on his people. When I think about my life and the lives of my ancestors," he writes, "I am inevitably led to the conviction that I, and they, belong to the American land. This is a declaration of belonging. And it is an offering to the earth. In this wise and wonderous work, Momaday shares stories and memories throughout his life, stories that have been passed down through generations, stories that reveal a profound spiritual connection to the American landscape and reverence for the natural world. He offers an homage and a warning. He shows us that the earth is a sacred place of wonder and beauty, a source of strength and healing that must be honored and protected before its too late. As he so eloquently and simply reminds us, we must all be keepers of the earth.

Both a masterpiece about the universal human condition and a masterpiece of Native American literature. . . . A beautiful artistic object, a book everyone should read for the joy and emotion of the language it contains. The Paris ReviewA special 50th anniversary edition of the magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from renowned Kiowa writer and poet N. Scott Momaday, with a new preface by the authorA young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds in a profound story of cultural identity. The first is the world of his grandfathers, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the ancient rites and traditions of his people. But the other worldmodern, industrial Americapulls at Abel, demanding his loyalty, trying to claim his soul, and goading him into a destructive, compulsive cycle of depravity and despair born from a veterans trauma.An American classic, House Made of Dawn is at once a tragic tale about the disabling effects of war and cultural separation, and a hopeful story of a stranger in his native land, finding his way back to all that is familiar and sacred.