Overview

Reading, Learning, Teaching N. Scott Momaday is an introduction to the literature and art of American writer N. Scott Momaday, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and member of the Kiowa American Indian Tribe. This book describes the impact of Momaday's family, Kiowa heritage, Pueblo cultural experiences, and academic preparation on his worldview, poetry, novels, essays, children's books, works in mixed genres, painting, and drawing, and it offers an analysis of his major works including the structural aspects and major themes of his writing and art. Jim Charles's description of specific pedagogical strategies for teaching Momaday's work as well as actual examples of the kinds of student responses Momaday's work elicits will help teachers in making curriculum decisions and in preparing lessons. This book presents a case for N. Scott Momaday's work receiving greater attention in the literature curriculum grades 11 through 14.

Full Product Details

9780820481869

Table of Contents

Reviews

« Expansive in its consideration of Momaday's canon, this book operates on numerous levels to 'unpack' this author's art, but also provide teachers with both a wealth of information and a multitude of ways to provide students with opportunities to discover the rich layers of that art. This is an immensely valuable resource not only for those who teach Momaday's works, but also for general readers who wish to enhance their understanding of this influential author and artist Jim Charles's structure offers readers/teachers a variety of options for use. Its thoughtful blend of points of view - the scholar, the cultural theorist, the teacher, the student - provides several ways for readers to (re)consider Momaday's major works, and those of other authors. Partly a pedagogical 'hands-on' guide and partly a collection of useful resource materials for our readings, this exploration of this author's canon has multiple functions and offers to extend the discourse about Momaday and Native literatures in general. The melding of personal insights (and storytelling) with close readings and cultural contexts is a very useful modeling of how to open American Indian texts for non-Natives. While offering ample direction in a reconsideration of Momaday's canon, it also provides for each reader's individualized exploration of his works. The fact that Charles examines the wide versatility of Momaday's interests - fiction, nonfiction, mixed-genre and books for young people, and visual art for example - makes this collection a particularly strong contribution to the discourse of indigenous literatures. He has packed a great deal into a compact and precise package.

Author Information

The Author: Jim Charles, Professor of English Education at the University of South Carolina Upstate (Spartanburg, South Carolina), has taught English for twenty-five years at both the ninth grade and university levels. He holds a Ph.D. in English education from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and has been awarded two NEH Fellowships for the study of American Indian literatures and cultures. Charles is the author of numerous articles on American Indian literatures as well as issues related to the teaching of English. A non-Indian, he participated as a member of the Oklahoma City Ponca Group in winning the 1976 World Championship American Indian Team Dance Contest in Mescalero, New Mexico.

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