Reading, Learning, Teaching N. Scott Momaday

This book is a convincing appreciation, grounded in Jim Charles's work teaching N. Scott Momaday's work in classrooms and in Charles's continuing participation in Oklahoma Indian life. Carefully researched and tested against Jim Charles's own experience in the classroom and on the dance grounds, this is a very valuable contribution to understanding the monumental work of N. Scott Momaday. (Larry Evers, Professor of English, University of Arizona) Momaday's work can be pretty daunting, even for experienced teachers of American Indian literatures, but it can also be extremely rewarding, for experienced and unexperienced readers alike. Jim Charles has done a great job of showing just how teachable Momaday's work is, and his suggestions for how and what to teach are going to be enormously helpful for anyone who will be teaching Momaday's prose or poetry. He's also done a fine job of providing much germane contextual information of the kind usually wanted and needed by less expert teachers of Momaday and American Indian literatures more generally. And true to Momaday's own interdisciplinary spirit, Jim makes a compelling case for teaching and studying Momaday's verbal art in the context of his other artwork - paintings, drawings, and the like. And let me add that I'm especially impressed by Jim's own warm, refreshingly clear prose, which I think will go a long way in helping readers to feel much more comfortable in the presence of Momaday's work. (Robert M. Nelson, Professor Emeritus, University of Richmond) 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. (John Lloyd Purdy, Professor of English, Western Washington University)