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mnboyer's review
5.0
The Man Made of Words is a wonderful collection of short stories and essays by Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday. Much of this work discusses identity, both personal identity and group identities for American Indian peoples, while always suggesting that "We are what we imagine ourselves to be" (39). Place is deemed sacred throughout passages. Language is sacred not only for the Kiowa, but for Momaday himself, who crafts beautiful stories and carefully places words on the page to give their exact meaning. This collection means also to interpret and reinterpret what we call "American literature."
There are two passages that stand out to me. The first shows the sacredness of language, and how language shapes our histories and our stories. Momaday is discussing oral tradition here as well, showing the reader how at times stories may seem "imperfect" to the outsider listening in, but at the same time just how true, honest, and perfect a story can be if you know what is/is not a flaw in the story's wording.
Yet the "Introduction" in Part III of this collection is amazing--truly brilliant, and delves into what makes a story and what story means for us all. Momaday writes:
There are two passages that stand out to me. The first shows the sacredness of language, and how language shapes our histories and our stories. Momaday is discussing oral tradition here as well, showing the reader how at times stories may seem "imperfect" to the outsider listening in, but at the same time just how true, honest, and perfect a story can be if you know what is/is not a flaw in the story's wording.
When my father spoke to me of my grandfather, who died before I was born, he invariably slipped into the present tense. And this is a common things in my experience of the Indian world. For the Indian there is something like an extended present. Time as motion is an illusion; indeed, time itself is an illusion. In the deepest sense, according to the native perception, there is only the dimension of timelessness, and in that dimension all things happen. (53)
Yet the "Introduction" in Part III of this collection is amazing--truly brilliant, and delves into what makes a story and what story means for us all. Momaday writes:
To tell a story in the proper way, to hear a story told in the proper way--this is a very old and sacred business, and it is very good. At that moment when we are drawn into the element of language, we are as intensely alive as we can be; we create and we are created. That existence in the maze of words is our human condition. Because of language we are, among all the creatures in our world, the most dominant and the most isolated. Our dominance is supreme, and our isolation is profound. That equation is the very marrow of story. It is a story in itself. We have no being beyond our stories. Our stories explain us, justify us, sustain us, humble us, and forgive us. And sometimes they injure and destroy us. Make no mistake, we are at risk in the presence of words. Perhaps the greatest stories are those which disturb us, which shake us from our complacency, which threaten our well-being. It is better to enter into the danger of such a story than to keep safely away in a space where the imagination lies dormant. (169)
castranosis's review
Read the story the collection is named after for a class I'm currently taking to wrap up my associate's degree.
alva7604's review
4.0
A combination of Momaday's thoughts on language and storytelling (which are quite insightful) as well as a few stories and descriptions from his own travels throughout the world. Great read!
lnprad's review
1.0
Do you derive pleasure from reading some iteration of "We are made of stories, language, words," of "Events happen in place," of "Take notice of landscape," in a queasy sincerity, skimmed off the surface of some supposed deep-well of spirituality, oh again and again and again? If that's your jam, you've found your raspberry. I, clearly, am not even in the kitchen.
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