In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961-1991 [Paperback]

N. Scott Momaday (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2009

"In the Presence of the Sun presents 30 years of selected works by [N. Scott] Momaday, the well-known Southwest Native American novelist. His unadorned poetry, which recounts fables and rituals of the Kiowa nation, conveys the deep sense of place of the Native American oral tradition. Here are dream-songs about animals (bear, bison, terrapin) and life away from urban alienation, an imagined re-creation based on Billy the Kid, prose poems about Plains Shields (and a fascinating discussion of their background), and new poems that utilize primary colors ('forms of the earth') to express instinctive continuities of a pre-Columbian vision."--Library Journal

"The strong, spare beauty of In the Presence of the Sun is compelling evidence that Scott Momaday is one of the most versatile and distinguished artists in America today."--Peter Matthiessen

". . . the images, the voices, the people are shadowy, elusive, burning with invention, like flames against a dark sky. For behind them is always the artist-author himself . . . a man with a sacred investiture. Strong medicine, strong art indeed."--The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Illustrated with 50 of the author's own drawings and paintings, the poems and stories collected here are all somehow engaged with Momaday's Native American heritage and the Plains culture of the past. An interesting aspect of his work is his attraction to forms, whether that of the folk tale, the rhyming couplet or the song. As he puts it, "And there was I, among ancient animals, / In the formality of the dance, / Remembering my face in the mirror of masks." Sometimes, it seems as if the powerful "medicine" of tradition can be retrieved through its symbols: "Mine is a beautiful shelf; / there is yellow pollen in it, / there is red earth in it." Elsewhere, however, Momaday's formality belongs to the tradition of English poetry, which can seem jarringly rhetorical ("How shall we adorn / Recognition with our speech?") or too tight to allow the medicine to enter ("What moves on this archaic force / Was wild and welling at the source"). This may account for the volume's unevenness. The poems with no formal allegiances best evoke harmony with the earth ("Rabbits rest in the foreground; / the sky is clenched upon them") and spiritual interconnection: "November is the flesh / And blood of the black bear, / Dusk its bone and marrow."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the Presence of the Sun presents 30 years of selected works by Momaday (b. 1934), the well-known Southwest Native American novelist. His unadorned poetry, which recounts fables and rituals of the Kiowa (Arizona-New Mexico) nation, conveys the deep sense of place of the Native American oral tradition. Here are dream-songs about animals (bear, bison, terrapin) and life away from urban alienation, an imagined re-creation based on Billy the Kid, prose poems about Plains Shields (and a fascinating discussion of their background), and new poems that utilize primary colors ("forms of the earth") to express instinctive continuities of a pre-Columbian vision: "What moves on this archaic force/Was wild and welling at the source." Like the Plains Shields he celebrates, these poems and stories are "meditations that make a round of life." Included is an autobiographical preface and 50 original paintings by the author. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/92.
- Frank Allen, West Virginia State Coll., Institute
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (October 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826348165
• ISBN-13: 978-0826348166
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,056,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars native american poetry and story's, September 17, 2010

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Sandra Megerle (RACINE, WI, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: In The Presence of The Sun: Stories and Poems (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. I have been trying to find out if this author published any poetry books. I especially enjoyed his poetry. I would like to obtain copies if he did.