In the Bear's House [Hardcover]

N. Scott Momaday (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1999

You are the dark shape I find
On nights of the spilling moon,
Pale in the pool of heaven.
You are spirit, you are that
Which summons me and confirms
My passage. You know my name...
--from "Revenant"

N. Scott Momaday's unique connection to the beauty and spirituality of the natural world surfaces in all of his works, from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn to his more recent collection In the Presence of the Sun. Yet In the Bear's House is Momaday's intensely personal quest to understand the spirit of the wilderness embodied in the animal image of Bear.

Intimately linked to Bear since his childhood, Momaday searches for this elusive yet omnipresent spirit who is both the keeper and the manifestation of the wild mountains, rivers, and plains. Exploring themes of anguish, forgiveness, and belief, Momaday journeys from the bitter Siberian taiga to the blackening night sky to deep within his own timeless essence, and reveals Bear to be both a radiant presence and spiritual restorative. In the first section, Momaday uses dialogues between the original Bear, Urset, and his creator, Yahweh, to probe the troubling consolation of language, the wonder of prayer, and the grace of storytelling. The bold, finely wrought language of the poems and passages collected here evoke the despair, bewilderment, and valor of the hunted Bear as well as the ultimate redemption and fulfillment to be found in the ritual of death. The provocative original paintings throughout In the Bear's House powerfully enhance our interpretation of Bear by suggesting his many incarnations.

Through both word and image, Momaday brings us deep into his vision of Bear's house and further distinguishes himself as one of the most luminous visionaries of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

The Pulitzer-winning novelist (House Made of Dawn, 1969) offers this mixed media collageforty paintings, a dialogue, twenty or so poems, and two poetic prose sectionsall on the subject of the bear (or Bear), an animal of cosmic and spiritual significance among Momadays Kiowa Indians. Momadays blend of biblical and Native American spirituality and language seems almost old-fashioned in light of the more separatist studies that have dominated since he first arrived on the scene back in the 60s. In fact, his traditional verse forms and expressive clarity will remind us of his tutelage under Yvor Winters, and Janet Lewis (to whom this volume is dedicated). The longish, eight-part dialogue between Yahweh (or Great Mystery) and Urset (the primal Bear) covers issues of essence and nature, dreaming and storytelling, time and evolution. Momaday reshapes Christian and Kiowa myth into a witty and plain-spoken cosmic exchange, and provides a perfect gloss to the seemingly simple poems that follow. Momadays clean and sharp measures enhance a number of well-made poems that date mostly from recent times, but include a stunning portrait of a bear first written in 1963. The Blind Astrologers captures the dual essence of Bear as mythic and mundane; To An Aged Bear encourages a bear to prepare for his spirit journey after death; The Print of the Paw understands the bears mark as a wondrous thing, the imprint suggesting a grand whole; and a few rhymed couplets and quatrains perfectly describe the bears grandeur in life and art. The bold brushstrokes of Momadays paintings echo the power and precision of his poetry and prose. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"The bold brushstrokes of Momaday's paintings echo the power and precision of his poetry and prose."—Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312199694
• ISBN-13: 978-0312199692
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,447,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking work of beauty, March 29, 2000

By 

James Stripes - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Bear's House (Hardcover)

This book presents Momaday's work--new and old--concerned with Bear and the idea of wilderness. It offers poetry, drama, and painting all centered on Bear as a representation of the wilderness. Momaday's idea of the wilderness reflects neither the central strand in American life that comes down from the Puritans, nor the preservationist ideology of urban-bound environmentalists, but his writing critically reflects upon both these traditions. Momaday finds Bear, and hence the wilderness, in a conversation between God and the original bear while eating huckleberries, on a train in Moscow, in the drawing for a bronze statue, and many other such places. Throughout this book, the author's life-long concern for the life of the imagination as our best existence (as he has often said) shows forth. This book is an excellent introduction to the work of a great American writer, as well as a beautiful addition to any collection already well-stocked with Momaday's work.

I taught this book as the first in a sequence of five books in a course on Native American poetry. The students loved it. Some of our discussions of the paintings were among the best my classes have had.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the Wilderness, September 19, 2009

By 

pBird - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Bear's House (Paperback)

Momaday's IN THE BEAR'S HOUSE contains a dramatic dialogue, varied poems and some prose passages. The book also includes many of Momaday's unique paintings and illustrations--all variations of Bear, the elusive wilderness that Momaday describes and explores through his thoughtful introduction, poetry and prose. Momaday alludes to a certain "nature's spirit," I think, that the reader can apprehend by cultivating the proper vision, a "tricky" vision, to be sure, one that can come in many forms. To anyone interested in tracking the path of a human being from either a Kiowa or a Pan-Indian perspective, I recommend this particular collection and, as always, all of Momaday's works.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book of Mostly Great Content, August 8, 2007

By 

Wildness (Colorado Plateau) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Bear's House (Hardcover)

N. Scott Momaday's *In the Bear's House* is an interesting mix of Momaday paintings, poetry, prose, and dialogues. N. Scott Momaday's bear paintings that adorn this book throughout are worth the price of admission on this book alone. From simple single color outlines to rich, colorful interpretations, the artwork will bring you back to this book over and over again. The poetry and prose about bears and their representation of wilderness and all things wild is simple, elegant, and expressive.

What I didn't care much for and why I give only 4 stars as a rating is the dialogues that dominate the first half of the book. These dialogues are between Bear and God, and frankly I found them a bit tedious and pointless. I was hoping for a much more meaningful exploration of God and his/her/its role in the world - specifically the wilderness. Instead, these conversations with God seem to meander into a wilderness of their own, getting lost along the way.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.