STUDY GUIDE
N. Scott Momaday=s
The Way to Rainy Mountain
STUDY GUIDE
INFORMATION (for lecture)
(Ideas taken from Studies in
American Indian Literature, ed. Paula Gunn Allen, MLA, 1983)
Complex experiment with literary form - oral & written modes combined (midpoint of continuum)
Structured with layers of myth, legend, history, personal commentary (captures the spirit of oral literature performance B matching his commentary to oral performance)
Twofold representation of self: tells about mythic voice & shows his own participation in development of that voice (presenter & audience)
As presenter he allies self with elders (responsible for keeping myth alive & finding points of contact between timeless myths & time-bound action of world). Historical sections help find some points of contact
As storyteller=s audience - records his own responses to myths & captures dynamic features of oral performance (myths reveal meanings of his own memories); e.g. dog savior helps explain memory of dog around his grandmother=s house (dog is urrounded by meanings that transcend ordinary semantic features of the word Aownership.@
Listener must be
someone like Momaday whose cultural exp enables him or her to respond to the
myth and, by responding, to capture some of essential meaning of personal
experience B>
persona of narrator in the work
P. 2: Way To Rainy
Mountain = history of an idea, man=s
idea of himself
Meaning drawn from
essence in verbal tradition.
Continuity no
longer depends solely on oral transmission but on new written form (the way?)
Still related intimately to oral tradition = transitional work
Albert Lord: AThe
seeds of >literary=
style are already present in oral style. . . . We are working in a continuum of
man=s artistic expression in words. We are attempting to measure with some
degree of accuracy the strength and mixture of traditional matters of expression@
(p. 130)
Excitement of
contemporary American Indian literature lies in the more complex adaptations of
the traditional oral forms (novel particularly well suited to accommodating
diverse aesthetic energies that exist in traditional tribal communities) B
mixes Indian and White cultures.
Also true of novels of other groups trying to bridge oral and written aesthetics (like many multicultural authors) B traditional & contemporary worlds
Please complete the novel by the 2nd class meeting. As you read, try to answer the following questions (please find page references to support them when appropriate).
1. What might "The Way" in the title represent?
2. Find examples of the importance of each of the following elements of the book:
A. Nature
B. Ancestors
C. Seeing / Living
3. What are some of the ways in which history is considered and represented in the book?
4. Consider the importance of place (as a concept and a specific place) to Momaday.
5. Consider the importance of story to Momaday.