Introduction to Momaday Site

This site has been created for several reasons and is intended to give the viewer a wide range of information concerning the author N. Scott Momaday and his works. The site itself can be divided into two main parts: the section About the Author and the section on The Way to Rainy Mountain. The section About the Author provides information about the life of the author, his works, and his awards. I have given some brief biographical information; a detailed, but not entirely complete listing, of his major works and awards; and access to internet ordering of many of his works. I have also included a link to one particular interview with the author which can be viewed in its entirerty on-line. The section on The Way to Rainy Mountain is an exploration in the possible interactions of the reader with on-line hypertext. I have reproduced the first section of The Way to Rainy Mountain "The Setting out" along with the Prologue and the Introduction. This reporduction is non-profit and is intended only to entertain and educate the visitor. I have reproduced the section only to expand the access this Pulitzer prize winning author to a wider readership, and to allow his work to continually recreate itself in new ways. I have done this reproduction because The Way to Rainy Mountain has always seemed to me like five books rather than one. Not only can this text be read in a traditional fashion, but each of the books sections: myths, histories, reflections, and illustrations can be read as their own text. In an attempt to show this, I have arranged multiple ways to navigate the text according to each of these different lines. I encourage visitors to read and create the text as they go. While I have made divisions between the sections, the lines between the styles of each section are not always clear. It is more than possbile that there are countless other ways to arrange and navigate this intriguing book. Momaday does not in the actual text to The Way to Rainy Mountain give titles,outside of numbers, to each of the sections either individually or as groups. I have included titles only to help the reader navigate and orient themselves with the text. I have tried to pull the titles from the sections themselves whenever possible, but the reader should not view them as interpretive guides outside of basic orientation within the text as a whole. The illustrations included from the book are the work of Scott Momaday's father, Al Momaday. I have altered them as little as possible in converting them into an electronic format so that the beauty of these ink drawings might be maintained.   If you have any questions, suggestions or comments about this site or the text please E-mail me, Ryan Travaille, at rctrava@ilstu.edu.

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