The Names (Sun Tracks, Vol 16) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Of all of the works of N. Scott Momaday, The Names may be the most personal. A memoir of his boyhood in Oklahoma and the Southwest, it is also described by Momaday as "an act of the imagination. When I turn my mind to my early life, it is the imaginative part of it that comes first and irresistibly into reach, and of that part I take hold." Complete with family photos, The Names is a book that will captivate readers who wish to experience the Native American way of life.

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Of all of the works of N. Scott Momaday, The Names may be the most personal. A memoir of his boyhood in Oklahoma and the Southwest, it is also described by Momaday as "an act of the imagination. When I turn my mind to my early life, it is the imaginative part of it that comes first and irresistibly into reach, and of that part I take hold." Complete with family photos, The Names is a book that will captivate readers who wish to experience the Native American way of life. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (November 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816510466
• ISBN-13: 978-0816510467
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #729,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written account of a childhood on Jemez Pueblo., May 7, 1997

By A Customer

N. Scott Momaday's beautifully written memoir of childhood in Jemez Pueblo, NM is geographically as well as chronologically defined, incorporating "the empty spaces of time in the morning and afternoon," the wide blue New Mexico sky, and the undeveloped high desert into the narrative as Momaday searches the landscape of his memory for the key word or image, _the name_ for things, that will retrieve the entirety of his history. Retrieval of this complex history, of emotion and memory, "the vibrant ecstasy of so much being," is almost possible. "Again and again, I have come to that awful edge, that one word, perhaps, that I cannot bring from my mouth."

_The Names_ is moving in its description of the ceremonies of Jemez Pueblo and the stories of Momaday's family. The author writes sometimes in a child's voice and sometimes in his grandfather's or the voices of others around him. It is clearly a child's story, saturated with a child's sense of wonder. But Momaday also provides an account of the process of attempted recovery, the descent into storytelling: "The first word gives origin to the second, the first and second to the third, . . . and so on. You cannot begin with the second word and tell the story, for the telling of the story is a cumulative process, a chain of becoming, at last of being."

Momaday's exploration of language's structure and limitations makes much of the book beautiful to me, but gets weighted down in intellectualization from time to time. Scott Momaday is a scholar -- he went to Stanford -- and the analytical aspect of _The Names_ can be a bit dry at times. It is, on the whole though, a sensitive and moving exploration of a Native American childhood and one of my favorite male autobiographies.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Photo album and long letter..., January 18, 1997

By A Customer

That's how I think of this book - a photo album of old family photos with one long letter (or, perhaps it would be better described as a series of short notes written by someone trying to remember what they'd seen, heard, imagines, or discovered). It's a fun book to read straight through, or to flip around in, going back and forth through the photos and reading about the person whose face or photo catches your eye <g>. For info on articles & stuff written about this book visit: http://users.mwci.net/~lapoz/Momaday.html

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the name a memoir, December 6, 2002

By A Customer

the book was great in detail and very touching.