The Way to Rainy Mountain

这并非一本好读的入门读物。全书被刻意切成神话、历史、回忆三种声音，彼此交错、彼此打断，初读容易觉得零散、"略显疲乏"。但正是这种结构，构成了它最独特的地方：作者N. Scott Momaday没有写一部基诺瓦族的文化报告，而是让消失的神话、冷硬的历史条约与私人的追忆在同一页上对话。1833年的狮子座流星雨、1837年的第一份条约、象征族群的Tai-me祭祀，与太阳的孩子、蜘蛛祖母的口传故事并行排列——灿烂与没落被并置在一起。它打动人的，是那种"失落的过去"与"美得如梦似幻"的语言之间形成的张力。适合愿意慢下来、对语言与记忆敏感、而非寻求清晰叙事读者的，正是能在这里触到印第安文化"感人的神奇魅力"的人。

Navarre Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934 in Lawton, Okla. to Kiowa parents who successfully bridged the gap between Native American and white ways, but remained true to their heritage. Momaday attended the University of New Mexico and earned an M.A and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1963. A member of the Gourd Dance Society of the Kiowa Tribe, Momaday has received a plethora of writing accolades, including the Academy of American Poets prize for The Bear and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for House Made of Dawn. He also shared the Western Heritage Award with David Muench in 1974 for the nonfiction book Colorado: Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring, and he is the author of the film adaptation of Frank Water's novel, The Man Who Killed the Deer. His work, The Names is composed of tribal tales, boyhood memories, and family histories. Another book, The Way to Rainy Mountain, melds myth, history, and personal recollection into a Kiowa tribe narrative. Throughout his writings, Momaday celebrate his Kiowa Native American heritage in structure, theme, and subject matter, often dealing with the man-nature relationship as a central theme and sustaining the Indian oral tradition. (Bowker Author Biography) N. Scott Momaday is Professor of English, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.