Approaches to Teaching Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain

The 1969 Pulitzer Prize winner for literature, N. Scott Momaday is considered one of the greatest of twentieth-century Native American writers. The Way to Rainy Mountain, the author's personal favorite among his works, combines contemporary Indian prose and poetry with tribal history, autobiography, lyric versions of tribal narratives, and songs. Its diversity has proved valuable to teachers of a wide range of subjects, including American literature, comparative literature, history, sociology, anthropology, and English composition. This Approaches to Teaching volume, like the others in the series, is divided into two parts. Part 1, "Materials," surveys materials useful to classroom instruction (such as anthologies, reference works, teachers' guides, and audiovisual aids), discusses bibliographic and biographical information, and includes sections on Momaday's other works and on oral and written Native American literatures. Part 2, "Approaches," includes seventeen essays by contributors who have taught Rainy Mountain in a variety of settings, from large state and small private universities to Indian community-based projects. An interview with the respected Kiowa leader Gary Kodaseet concludes the section.