OK In-Depth; N. Scott Momaday Interview

Kaewa author and poet N. Scott Mamaday is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, House Made of Dawn. In fact, he was the first Native American writer to receive a Pulitzer. But in addition to his literary success, Mamaday is also a gifted painter, who uses the tools of the brush and the canvas to, in his words, preserve cultural memory through the visual voice. An exhibit of N. Scott Mamaday's paintings is currently on display at the Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman. KGOU's Susan Shannon had a chance recently to speak with Mamaday about his artwork, about his literature, and about his experience returning from his present day home in New Mexico to his Native Oklahoma. I always love to come back. I have roots here, many relatives and friends. This occasion, especially, where I was honored, it's wonderful, and to have a show at the Jacobson House. That means a great deal to me. I wish my father could have been here for this. I don't think people realize that your father was an artist,

and much in the style of the Kaewa 5, and your art, though, is completely different from that, isn't it? Yeah, I think mine is a departure. His was very close. He was directly descended from the Kaewa 5, and their work is characterized by very fine brush work, you know, real detail. Mine is much broader strokes and more spontaneous in certain ways. I think people would be surprised by your paintings for Emily Dickinson and James Joyce. Oh, great literary models for me. Yeah, yeah. I enjoy doing different kinds of things. I like doing stylized portraits, so the James Joyce, and that's fun to do. In our household, you know, there's two gods of literature, you and Vine Deloria. Could you say a few words about Vine? Vine was a very close friend of mine. There is a book just out recently called Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes. He has the first essay in that book, and I have the last one, and he died just before it was published.

We miss Vine a great deal. He was a wonderful role model for young Indian children. He contributed so much to the Indian world. It seems like you and Vine Deloria popped about the same time, him, with the custard eye drew your sins, you winning the Pulitzer Prize. Were those heady times for young Native Americans? Yeah, well heady times for me, D Brown's book, Barry My Heart at Wounded Knee, was published almost at the same time Housemaid of Dawn was, and Vine's book, My Book, D Brown's book, all coming at the same time. I think really brought about a kind of revolution in Native American literature. It was a breakthrough, and it's been very important. And now we have so many young Indian writers coming up. It's wonderful to see that. Do you have any favorites? Oh, you know, I like Simon Ortiz very much, and Joy Harjo, and there are so many. It's impossible to name them all, but I think we're going to see a very bright

future for Native American literature. Are you working on something now? I'm doing a children's book right now, which I need to finish very soon, and I'm writing a kind of autobiographical narrative. I wrote a book in 1976 called The Names, which was about my growing up to the age of 17, so I think I'm going to follow up on that. The visual voice of Kaiwa Author N. Scott Mama Day will be on display through July 30th at the Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman. For more information, visit www.jacupsenhouse.com. With Susan Shannon, I'm KGOU News Director, Scott Gurean.