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N. Scott Momaday

エヌ・スコット・モマデイ

N. Scott Momaday

Aliases: Navarre Scotte Momaday / Novarro Scotte Mammedaty / Navarre Scott Momaday
Pen Names: Tsoai-talee (Kiowa name)（Kiowa name given in infancy (corresponding to 'Rock-Tree Boy')）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-02-27 （Lawton, Oklahoma, U.S.）
Died
2024-01-24 （Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.） age 89
Nationality
Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Arizona, USA (childhood) → Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, USA (adolescence) → California, USA (academic career) → Oklahoma, USA (later life) → Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (place of death)

Career

Occupations
novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer, professor
Active Years
1950-2024
Affiliations
Stanford University (faculty), University of California, Berkeley (faculty), University of California, Santa Barbara (faculty), University of Arizona (faculty), Moscow State University (visiting professor), University of New Mexico (visiting professor, 2014–15)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow)
Influenced By
Kiowa and Indigenous oral traditions, William Faulkner (met; literary influence), John Dos Passos (met)
Influenced
Writers of the Native American Renaissance and subsequent Indigenous authors, Joy Harjo (acknowledged his influence and legacy)

Education

Augusta Military Academy (high school year)
Period: 高校最終学年
Country: United States
Spent final year of high school at the institution
University of New Mexico
English
Degree: BA
Period: 在籍 - 卒業 1958
Year of Graduation: 1958
Country: United States
Received BA in English
Stanford University
English Literature
Degree: PhD
Period: 在籍 - PhD 1963
Year of Graduation: 1963
Country: United States
Doctoral dissertation focused on poet Frederick G. Tuckerman

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1969
Work: House Made of Dawn
Organization: Pulitzer Prize committee
Result: 受賞
National Medal of Arts
2007
Work: Body of work (for celebration and preservation of Indigenous oral and art tradition)
Organization: United States government
Result: 受賞
Oklahoma Poet Laureate
2007
Organization: State of Oklahoma
Result: 任命
Lifetime Achievement Award (Native Writers' Circle of the Americas)
1992
Organization: Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
Result: 受賞
Golden Plate Award
1993
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: 受賞
St. Louis Literary Award
2000
Organization: Saint Louis University Library Associates
Result: 受賞
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (Lifetime Achievement)
2018
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Result: 受賞
Ken Burns American Heritage Prize
2019
Organization: Ken Burns American Heritage Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
2019
Organization: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

House Made of Dawn

1968 Novel (Fiction) 224 pages

Follows a young World War II veteran of Native American descent as he struggles with cultural dislocation and personal recovery. Merges oral storytelling forms with the English novel, emphasizing landscape and cyclical time.

Native identityoral traditionalienation and belonginglandscape and nature
Translations
  • Japanese translation: 'House Made of Dawn' (title rendered as 'Yomake no Ie' / 'House of Dawn')

The Way to Rainy Mountain

1969 Nonfiction (folklore / memoir) 192 pages

Blends Kiowa folklore and family history with personal memoir and commentary; illustrated by his father, Alfred Momaday.

tradition and memoryfamily historyplace and remembrance
Translations
  • Japanese translation: 'The Way to Rainy Mountain'

The Names: A Memoir

1976 Memoir 288 pages

A chronological account of childhood and adolescence, extending themes from The Way to Rainy Mountain with personal history and memories.

coming of agememorycultural inheritance

Bibliography

  • House Made of Dawn (1968)
  • The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969)
  • The Names: A Memoir (1976)
  • The Gourd Dancer (1976, poetry)
  • In the Bear's House (1999, mixed media)
  • Dream Drawings (2022, poetry)

Adaptations

  • Featured in documentaries such as Ken Burns & Stephen Ives' 'The West' (PBS)
  • Appeared in 'The American Buffalo' (2023, Ken Burns)

Translations of Works

  • Japanese translation of 'House Made of Dawn'

Style & Themes

Literary Style
fusion of oral tradition with English novel formpoetic and symbolic descriptionmythic and cyclical narrative structure
Recurring Motifs
sunrise/sunset (cycles)landscape and placeanimal imagerynames and memory

Legacy

Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn and is regarded as a leading figure of the Native American Renaissance. He brought Indigenous oral traditions into English literature, influencing many subsequent writers, and received broad academic and public recognition including numerous honorary degrees and awards.

Museums

  • Rainy Mountain Foundation-related exhibits Oklahoma and other locations (exhibits related to his work)

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Archives

  • N. Scott Momaday Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances in PBS and Ken Burns documentaries about the American West

Quotes

  • In House Made of Dawn, Momaday found a way to move eloquently between oral storytelling forms and the written English novel form. The trajectory of the book moves from sunrise to sunrise, making a circle—a story structure recognizable in Indigenous oral history, yet following traditional American literary shape and expectations of a novel.
    Source: Joy Harjo (tribute, The Washington Post) (2024)
  • "I want my legacy to be the example of how one can survive against those odds."
    Source: PBS American Masters interview (2022) (2022)

Trivia

  • Given the Kiowa name Tsoai-talee (Rock-Tree Boy) in infancy.
  • Won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn and is considered among the first major Native American recipients to gain mainstream recognition.
  • His father was a painter and illustrated The Way to Rainy Mountain.
  • Held over 20 honorary degrees; the most recent was from CalArts in 2023.