Synopses & Reviews
In
The Man Made of Words Momaday chronicles his own pilgrimage as an author, retelling, through thirty-eight essays, allegorical stories, and autobiographical reminiscences, how he became one of the first recognized Native American writers of this century. By exploring such themes as land, language, and self-identity,
The Man Made of Words fashions a definition of American literature as it has never been interpreted before.
Review
"The dean of American Indian writers . . . Mr. Momaday constructs beautifully cadenced sentences and summons a colorful assortment of stories and states of mind from a lively imagination."—
The New York Times Book Review"Momaday is a kind of arrowmaker himself—savvy, agile with language, and ready to slay, in a heartbeat, the predator outside."—The Nation
"There is . . . an unmistakable greatness here . . . Momaday's qualification to speak on the restorative power of words follows from his position as an outsider who uses language to negotiate a way between two worlds . . . Momaday may write for himself and his people . . . but he speaks to us all."—Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Man Made of Words is Momaday in a nutshell, essential Momaday . . . Throughout [he] sounds his grand theme: the sacred—an Indian sacred and what it is."—Buffalo News
"A preeminent voice on Native American literature . . . few authors write as gracefully or majestically as Momaday."—Publishers Weekly
About the Author
N. Scott Momaday is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the Academy of American Poets Prize, and the Premio Letterario Internazionale "Mondello," Italy's highest literary award. Momaday is a writer, poet, and playwright whose books include
The Man Made of Words, House Made of Dawn, and
In the Presence of the Sun. He lives in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.