WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.310 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.310 --> 00:00:05.550 align:middle line:84% N. Scott Momaday is a novelist, a poet, and a painter. 00:00:05.550 --> 00:00:07.710 align:middle line:84% He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction 00:00:07.710 --> 00:00:11.280 align:middle line:84% for his novel House Made of Dawn in 1969. 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:13.120 align:middle line:84% He has taught at several universities, 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:17.250 align:middle line:84% including UC Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, and Moscow 00:00:17.250 --> 00:00:18.300 align:middle line:90% University. 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:20.940 align:middle line:84% He currently teaches at the University of Arizona. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:23.790 align:middle line:84% Writers at Work is very happy to present N. Scott Momaday. 00:00:23.790 --> 00:00:27.192 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:27.192 --> 00:00:35.960 align:middle line:90% 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:37.580 align:middle line:84% I know that this has been advertised 00:00:37.580 --> 00:00:40.550 align:middle line:84% as a reading of fiction but I would 00:00:40.550 --> 00:00:46.100 align:middle line:84% like to begin by reading a poem or two. 00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:49.845 align:middle line:90% These are fairly recent poems. 00:00:49.845 --> 00:00:54.760 align:middle line:90% 00:00:54.760 --> 00:00:55.985 align:middle line:90% We'll start with an epitaph. 00:00:55.985 --> 00:00:58.700 align:middle line:90% 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:00.920 align:middle line:84% I don't know if you write epitaphs or not. 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.450 align:middle line:84% But I swim and swimming is surely 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.060 align:middle line:84% one of the most boring activities that 00:01:08.060 --> 00:01:11.000 align:middle line:90% has ever been devised. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:13.040 align:middle line:90% And I do this for exercise. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:14.900 align:middle line:90% It's rather good exercise. 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:18.260 align:middle line:90% But it is unspeakably boring. 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:23.120 align:middle line:84% And in order to combat this deadly boredom, 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:26.835 align:middle line:84% I began, while I was going through the motions 00:01:26.835 --> 00:01:29.210 align:middle line:84% and looking down at the stripe at the bottom of the pool, 00:01:29.210 --> 00:01:31.850 align:middle line:90% composing epitaphs. 00:01:31.850 --> 00:01:33.830 align:middle line:84% And I discovered that it's a very good way 00:01:33.830 --> 00:01:35.090 align:middle line:90% to combat boredom. 00:01:35.090 --> 00:01:38.390 align:middle line:84% And it's a little bit like eating peanuts. 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:42.860 align:middle line:84% Once you get started writing the damn things you can't stop. 00:01:42.860 --> 00:01:46.670 align:middle line:84% And so here are some examples of epitaphs that I've 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:49.265 align:middle line:90% composed while completely wet. 00:01:49.265 --> 00:01:52.340 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:53.750 align:middle line:90% 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:58.220 align:middle line:84% He drove himself and was undone and left 00:01:58.220 --> 00:02:03.902 align:middle line:90% no stone unturned but one. 00:02:03.902 --> 00:02:06.710 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:06.710 --> 00:02:07.580 align:middle line:90% Kind of grim, huh? 00:02:07.580 --> 00:02:10.055 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:10.055 --> 00:02:12.110 align:middle line:84% It can also be called an epi-grim. 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:15.170 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:15.170 --> 00:02:19.760 align:middle line:90% She died a beauty of repute. 00:02:19.760 --> 00:02:22.040 align:middle line:90% Her other virtues in dispute. 00:02:22.040 --> 00:02:23.460 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:26.960 align:middle line:90% 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.290 align:middle line:90% He worked hard and was rewarded. 00:02:30.290 --> 00:02:32.560 align:middle line:90% His reward is here recorded. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.870 align:middle line:90% 00:02:35.870 --> 00:02:38.780 align:middle line:90% And this is the one I like best. 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:43.280 align:middle line:84% Here lies a lady sweet and chaste. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:47.225 align:middle line:84% Here lies the matter, chaste makes waste. 00:02:47.225 --> 00:02:50.510 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:50.510 --> 00:02:51.950 align:middle line:90% 00:02:51.950 --> 00:02:53.240 align:middle line:90% Enough of that, huh? 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:57.180 align:middle line:90% 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:00.120 align:middle line:84% Frequently I write in the-- in a mode 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.420 align:middle line:84% that I think of as an American Indian expression, by 00:03:03.420 --> 00:03:04.110 align:middle line:90% and large. 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:12.150 align:middle line:84% Much of my writing comes out of Native American oral tradition. 00:03:12.150 --> 00:03:14.010 align:middle line:90% There are such things as charms. 00:03:14.010 --> 00:03:18.180 align:middle line:84% And some of you will know what charms are, particularly 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:21.390 align:middle line:90% in the Anglo-Saxon maybe. 00:03:21.390 --> 00:03:26.490 align:middle line:84% Charms are verbal equations which are uttered in the belief 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:32.550 align:middle line:84% that the utterance will produce some physical change 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:35.070 align:middle line:90% in the world. 00:03:35.070 --> 00:03:37.140 align:middle line:84% In American Indian tradition, the charms 00:03:37.140 --> 00:03:44.910 align:middle line:84% are used basically for the acquisition of power. 00:03:44.910 --> 00:03:49.560 align:middle line:84% A charm, for example, is uttered in order 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:54.870 align:middle line:84% to reduce an enemy to helplessness. 00:03:54.870 --> 00:03:59.460 align:middle line:84% Here are some things I have written that [AUDIO OUT] 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:04.530 align:middle line:84% upon charms, American Indian charms. 00:04:04.530 --> 00:04:12.600 align:middle line:84% My child, can you reach those berries, the red, and blue, 00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:15.720 align:middle line:90% and purple berries? 00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:18.315 align:middle line:90% They are delicious, perhaps. 00:04:18.315 --> 00:04:22.230 align:middle line:90% 00:04:22.230 --> 00:04:24.510 align:middle line:90% Here is another one. 00:04:24.510 --> 00:04:27.450 align:middle line:90% The bear is coming. 00:04:27.450 --> 00:04:29.640 align:middle line:90% There are pitiful cries. 00:04:29.640 --> 00:04:33.270 align:middle line:90% There are knives for mourning. 00:04:33.270 --> 00:04:35.400 align:middle line:90% The bear is coming. 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:37.890 align:middle line:90% There are bones all about. 00:04:37.890 --> 00:04:41.670 align:middle line:84% There are entrails on the ground. 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:48.930 align:middle line:84% The bear is coming, someone very old has said so. 00:04:48.930 --> 00:04:55.280 align:middle line:90% 00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:56.720 align:middle line:90% And another. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:00.800 align:middle line:84% At the very sight of my horse, at the very sight 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:05.750 align:middle line:84% of my trappings, at the very sight of my shield, 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:07.520 align:middle line:90% you are afraid. 00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:08.240 align:middle line:90% Aren't you? 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:16.470 align:middle line:90% 00:05:16.470 --> 00:05:19.830 align:middle line:84% I read these things you understand out 00:05:19.830 --> 00:05:24.330 align:middle line:90% of some spirit of generosity. 00:05:24.330 --> 00:05:27.930 align:middle line:84% And I don't want you to repeat them because they're 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:30.990 align:middle line:90% very dangerous things. 00:05:30.990 --> 00:05:34.830 align:middle line:90% They must be handled with care. 00:05:34.830 --> 00:05:36.900 align:middle line:90% This is the last one. 00:05:36.900 --> 00:05:40.200 align:middle line:90% The wind is cold, isn't it? 00:05:40.200 --> 00:05:43.830 align:middle line:90% The moon is dark, isn't it? 00:05:43.830 --> 00:05:48.150 align:middle line:90% The plain is wide, isn't it? 00:05:48.150 --> 00:05:51.090 align:middle line:84% Death dances at the base of that hill. 00:05:51.090 --> 00:05:57.460 align:middle line:90% 00:05:57.460 --> 00:06:02.890 align:middle line:84% Just two more poems and then I'll read some other things. 00:06:02.890 --> 00:06:13.680 align:middle line:90% 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:17.415 align:middle line:84% Well here is a poem called If It Could Ascend. 00:06:17.415 --> 00:06:20.640 align:middle line:90% 00:06:20.640 --> 00:06:24.780 align:middle line:84% I behold there the far faint motion of leaves. 00:06:24.780 --> 00:06:29.460 align:middle line:84% The leaves shine and they will shiver down to death. 00:06:29.460 --> 00:06:33.030 align:middle line:84% Something like a leaf flies here within me. 00:06:33.030 --> 00:06:37.060 align:middle line:90% It wavers almost not at all. 00:06:37.060 --> 00:06:40.380 align:middle line:84% And there is no light to see it by that it 00:06:40.380 --> 00:06:43.710 align:middle line:90% withers upon a black field. 00:06:43.710 --> 00:06:48.780 align:middle line:84% If it could ascend the thousand years into my mouth, 00:06:48.780 --> 00:06:51.570 align:middle line:84% I would make a word of it at last. 00:06:51.570 --> 00:06:55.050 align:middle line:84% And I would speak it into the silence of the sun. 00:06:55.050 --> 00:07:01.230 align:middle line:90% 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:06.510 align:middle line:84% For the last 10 years or so, I've taught at Stanford 00:07:06.510 --> 00:07:09.810 align:middle line:90% and lived in San Francisco. 00:07:09.810 --> 00:07:11.820 align:middle line:84% And two or three days a week, I drove down 00:07:11.820 --> 00:07:15.780 align:middle line:84% to Stanford, a distance of about 35 miles. 00:07:15.780 --> 00:07:18.990 align:middle line:84% And our apartment in San Francisco 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:23.220 align:middle line:84% is on the corner of Beech and Fillmore Streets. 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:26.880 align:middle line:84% It's in the Marina, if you know the city, between-- 00:07:26.880 --> 00:07:29.550 align:middle line:84% on the bay --between the Golden Gate Bridge 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:32.550 align:middle line:90% and Fisherman's Wharf. 00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:36.210 align:middle line:84% And we have a bay window on Fillmore Street. 00:07:36.210 --> 00:07:39.240 align:middle line:84% And if you look north from the bay window, 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:43.470 align:middle line:84% the bay is there just a block or so down. 00:07:43.470 --> 00:07:49.530 align:middle line:84% And you see the most wonderful ships passing by at all hours. 00:07:49.530 --> 00:07:52.380 align:middle line:90% And you hear the foghorns. 00:07:52.380 --> 00:07:56.790 align:middle line:84% Sometimes the USS Coral Sea goes by 00:07:56.790 --> 00:08:01.350 align:middle line:84% and then fills that whole gap of Fillmore Street at the end. 00:08:01.350 --> 00:08:03.960 align:middle line:90% It has a crew of 3,000 men. 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:07.350 align:middle line:84% And it's a wonderful thing to see. 00:08:07.350 --> 00:08:08.910 align:middle line:84% But if you look the other direction, 00:08:08.910 --> 00:08:11.820 align:middle line:84% south, you [AUDIO OUT] Fillmore Street. 00:08:11.820 --> 00:08:14.310 align:middle line:84% Fillmore Street ascends from the Marina 00:08:14.310 --> 00:08:16.680 align:middle line:90% to the top of Pacific Heights. 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:19.200 align:middle line:84% And there at the very top is the intersection 00:08:19.200 --> 00:08:21.600 align:middle line:90% of Broadway and Fillmore. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:25.230 align:middle line:84% And on my way to Stanford I drove up that hill, 00:08:25.230 --> 00:08:28.920 align:middle line:84% up Fillmore, to the very top, to the top of Pacific Heights. 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:32.370 align:middle line:84% And one day, as I was driving to Stanford 00:08:32.370 --> 00:08:35.700 align:middle line:84% and I was climbing that hill up to the top of Fillmore 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:40.578 align:middle line:84% and Broadway, my imagination went wild. 00:08:40.578 --> 00:08:42.120 align:middle line:84% I don't know how to account for that. 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:42.929 align:middle line:90% But it happens. 00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:45.390 align:middle line:84% It happens every once in a while. 00:08:45.390 --> 00:08:49.575 align:middle line:84% And I thought, what a wonderful place for a buffalo drive. 00:08:49.575 --> 00:08:53.190 align:middle line:90% 00:08:53.190 --> 00:08:55.710 align:middle line:84% And I played with that idea for a time. 00:08:55.710 --> 00:08:56.940 align:middle line:90% Now what if-- 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:02.490 align:middle line:84% I began thinking, what if one day the good citizens of San 00:09:02.490 --> 00:09:08.880 align:middle line:84% Francisco should wake up and hear in the distance 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:13.020 align:middle line:90% this bawling and this thunder? 00:09:13.020 --> 00:09:14.940 align:middle line:90% And they look southward. 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:18.810 align:middle line:84% And there, somewhere down on the Peninsula, 00:09:18.810 --> 00:09:25.020 align:middle line:84% is this great red cloud of dust rising into the air. 00:09:25.020 --> 00:09:28.590 align:middle line:84% And it turns out to be some lost remnant 00:09:28.590 --> 00:09:38.090 align:middle line:84% of the great southern herd, maybe 50,000, 60,000 animals, 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:44.280 align:middle line:84% all bearing hard upon the city of San Francisco. 00:09:44.280 --> 00:09:44.780 align:middle line:90% They do. 00:09:44.780 --> 00:09:52.430 align:middle line:84% They come into the city and crush automobiles, 00:09:52.430 --> 00:09:55.460 align:middle line:84% knock lampposts over, take the corners 00:09:55.460 --> 00:10:01.500 align:middle line:84% off buildings, trample women and children. 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:05.130 align:middle line:84% They follow the line of least resistance, 00:10:05.130 --> 00:10:09.500 align:middle line:90% which would be Van Ness Avenue. 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:13.220 align:middle line:84% They come northwards along Van Ness. 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:18.350 align:middle line:84% And somehow at Broadway they are [AUDIO OUT] and they make 00:10:18.350 --> 00:10:19.040 align:middle line:90% a left-- 00:10:19.040 --> 00:10:22.610 align:middle line:90% they hang a left turn. 00:10:22.610 --> 00:10:29.210 align:middle line:84% And they flow up Broadway to the intersection 00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:31.640 align:middle line:90% of Fillmore and Broadway. 00:10:31.640 --> 00:10:38.600 align:middle line:84% And there, on the southwest corner of the intersection, 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:43.040 align:middle line:90% is an old man on an old horse. 00:10:43.040 --> 00:10:45.410 align:middle line:90% And he waves them down. 00:10:45.410 --> 00:10:47.690 align:middle line:84% And they [AUDIO OUT] down Fillmore Street, 00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:50.555 align:middle line:84% past Cow Hollow, and into the bay. 00:10:50.555 --> 00:10:53.892 align:middle line:90% 00:10:53.892 --> 00:10:54.725 align:middle line:90% Isn't that terrific? 00:10:54.725 --> 00:10:58.070 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:58.070 --> 00:11:04.010 align:middle line:84% This is called the Great Fillmore Street Buffalo Drive. 00:11:04.010 --> 00:11:09.560 align:middle line:84% Insinuate the sun through fog upon Pacific Heights, 00:11:09.560 --> 00:11:14.240 align:middle line:84% upon the man on horseback, upon the herd ascending. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:20.450 align:middle line:90% There is color and clamor. 00:11:20.450 --> 00:11:26.390 align:middle line:84% And there he waves them down those great hump backed animals 00:11:26.390 --> 00:11:32.240 align:middle line:84% until, their wild grace gone, they lumber and lunge. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:35.540 align:middle line:84% And blood blisters at their teeth. 00:11:35.540 --> 00:11:39.050 align:middle line:84% And their hooves score the street. 00:11:39.050 --> 00:11:45.290 align:middle line:84% And among boulders, they settle on the sea. 00:11:45.290 --> 00:11:49.220 align:middle line:84% He looks after them, twisted round upon his sorrow. 00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:55.400 align:middle line:84% The drape of his flag now full and formal, ceremonial. 00:11:55.400 --> 00:12:00.210 align:middle line:84% One bull, animal representation of the sun, 00:12:00.210 --> 00:12:05.060 align:middle line:84% he dreams back from the brink to the green refuge 00:12:05.060 --> 00:12:07.670 align:middle line:90% of his hunter's heart. 00:12:07.670 --> 00:12:13.460 align:middle line:84% It grazes near a canyon wall along a ribbon of light, 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:19.460 align:middle line:84% among redbud trees, eventually into shadow. 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:22.160 align:middle line:84% Then the hold of his eyes is broken. 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:26.360 align:middle line:84% On the farther rim, the grasses flicker and blur. 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:29.780 align:middle line:84% A hawk brushes rain across the dusk. 00:12:29.780 --> 00:12:32.810 align:middle line:90% Meadows recede into mountains. 00:12:32.810 --> 00:12:38.990 align:middle line:84% And here and there are moons like salmon berries 00:12:38.990 --> 00:12:40.865 align:middle line:84% upon the glacial face of the sky. 00:12:40.865 --> 00:12:46.560 align:middle line:90% 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:47.060 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:12:47.060 --> 00:12:47.935 align:middle line:90% That's enough poetry. 00:12:47.935 --> 00:12:51.950 align:middle line:90% 00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:54.770 align:middle line:84% Let me read you something from my favorite of my books. 00:12:54.770 --> 00:12:57.320 align:middle line:84% It's called The Way to Rainy Mountain. 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:01.880 align:middle line:84% And it's a hard book to classify I'm told and I believe it. 00:13:01.880 --> 00:13:06.260 align:middle line:84% It's basically a collection of Kiowa folk tales 00:13:06.260 --> 00:13:08.360 align:middle line:84% to which I've added commentaries of two 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:12.740 align:middle line:84% kinds, an historical commentary and reminiscence, 00:13:12.740 --> 00:13:17.690 align:middle line:84% a kind of memoir, personal reminiscence. 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:23.060 align:middle line:84% There's one that I'd like to read you. 00:13:23.060 --> 00:13:25.440 align:middle line:84% It's number three in the collection. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:27.110 align:middle line:90% This is the way it goes. 00:13:27.110 --> 00:13:31.685 align:middle line:84% Before there were horses, the Kiowas had need of dogs. 00:13:31.685 --> 00:13:34.340 align:middle line:90% 00:13:34.340 --> 00:13:38.960 align:middle line:84% That was a long time ago when dogs could talk. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.550 align:middle line:90% There was a man who lived alone. 00:13:41.550 --> 00:13:45.290 align:middle line:84% He had been thrown away and he made his camp here and there 00:13:45.290 --> 00:13:47.630 align:middle line:90% on the high ground. 00:13:47.630 --> 00:13:51.200 align:middle line:84% Now it was dangerous to be alone but there were enemies 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.940 align:middle line:90% all around. 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:55.970 align:middle line:84% The man spent his arrows hunting food. 00:13:55.970 --> 00:13:59.030 align:middle line:84% He had one arrow left and he shot a bear. 00:13:59.030 --> 00:14:02.930 align:middle line:84% But the bear was only wounded and it ran away. 00:14:02.930 --> 00:14:06.680 align:middle line:90% The man wondered what to do. 00:14:06.680 --> 00:14:11.120 align:middle line:84% Then a dog came up to him and said 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.190 align:middle line:90% that many enemies were coming. 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:16.430 align:middle line:84% They were close by and all around. 00:14:16.430 --> 00:14:19.860 align:middle line:84% The man could think of no way to save himself. 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:27.110 align:middle line:84% But the dog said, you know, I have puppies. 00:14:27.110 --> 00:14:33.290 align:middle line:84% They are weak and they have nothing to eat; 00:14:33.290 --> 00:14:38.110 align:middle line:84% if you will take care of my puppies, 00:14:38.110 --> 00:14:39.595 align:middle line:90% I will show you how to get away. 00:14:39.595 --> 00:14:42.730 align:middle line:90% 00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:48.580 align:middle line:84% The dog led the man here and there, around and around, 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:49.705 align:middle line:90% and they came to safety. 00:14:49.705 --> 00:14:54.660 align:middle line:90% 00:14:54.660 --> 00:14:55.830 align:middle line:90% This is the commentary. 00:14:55.830 --> 00:14:59.880 align:middle line:84% The first commentary, 100 years ago the Comanche Ten Bears 00:14:59.880 --> 00:15:01.800 align:middle line:84% remarked upon the great number of horses 00:15:01.800 --> 00:15:04.050 align:middle line:90% which the Kiowas owned. 00:15:04.050 --> 00:15:06.780 align:middle line:84% When we first knew you, he said, you 00:15:06.780 --> 00:15:10.260 align:middle line:90% had nothing but dogs and sleds. 00:15:10.260 --> 00:15:11.850 align:middle line:90% It was so. 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:13.980 align:middle line:90% The dog is primordial. 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:17.400 align:middle line:84% Perhaps it was dreamed into being. 00:15:17.400 --> 00:15:19.940 align:middle line:84% The principal warrior society of the Kiowas 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:23.130 align:middle line:90% was the Koitsenko, Real Dogs. 00:15:23.130 --> 00:15:26.970 align:middle line:84% And it was made up of 10 men only, the 10 most brave. 00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:29.970 align:middle line:84% Each of these men wore a long ceremonial sash 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:31.710 align:middle line:90% and carried an arrow. 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:34.770 align:middle line:84% In time of battle he must, by means of this arrow, 00:15:34.770 --> 00:15:37.110 align:middle line:84% impale the end of his sash to the earth 00:15:37.110 --> 00:15:40.080 align:middle line:84% and stand his ground to the death. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.660 align:middle line:84% Tradition has it that the founder of the Koitsenko 00:15:42.660 --> 00:15:46.080 align:middle line:84% had a dream in which he saw a band of warriors outfitted 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.280 align:middle line:84% after the fashion of the society being led by a dog. 00:15:50.280 --> 00:15:53.340 align:middle line:84% The dog sang the song of the Koitsenko 00:15:53.340 --> 00:15:57.810 align:middle line:84% then said to the dreamer, you are a dog, 00:15:57.810 --> 00:16:01.875 align:middle line:84% make a noise like a dog, sing like a dog. 00:16:01.875 --> 00:16:07.820 align:middle line:90% 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:11.690 align:middle line:84% They were always dogs about my grandmother's house. 00:16:11.690 --> 00:16:16.080 align:middle line:84% Some of them were nameless and lived a life of their own. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.420 align:middle line:84% They belong there in a sense that the word ownership 00:16:20.420 --> 00:16:22.340 align:middle line:90% does not include. 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:26.450 align:middle line:84% The old people paid them scarcely any attention 00:16:26.450 --> 00:16:30.590 align:middle line:84% but they should have been sad, I think, to see them go. 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:35.480 align:middle line:90% 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:38.300 align:middle line:84% Let us tell you a little story about that, 00:16:38.300 --> 00:16:41.180 align:middle line:90% a story about that story. 00:16:41.180 --> 00:16:46.140 align:middle line:84% One day, a couple or three years ago, 00:16:46.140 --> 00:16:51.380 align:middle line:84% I was speaking to a class of sixth graders 00:16:51.380 --> 00:16:54.800 align:middle line:84% at the Hebrew Academy of San Francisco. 00:16:54.800 --> 00:17:00.470 align:middle line:84% I was telling them stories and I happened to think of this one. 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:03.950 align:middle line:84% And so I thought it would be nice to recite 00:17:03.950 --> 00:17:08.000 align:middle line:84% the story about the man who was saved by a dog. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.260 align:middle line:90% And I got to that part of it. 00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:15.800 align:middle line:84% The second sentence, which says, "That was a long time ago 00:17:15.800 --> 00:17:18.980 align:middle line:90% when dogs could talk." 00:17:18.980 --> 00:17:22.460 align:middle line:84% and the little girl in the front row looked up at me 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:26.150 align:middle line:84% and she said, those were the days. 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:29.496 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:17:29.496 --> 00:17:36.200 align:middle line:90% 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:38.480 align:middle line:90% I will never forgive her. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:39.800 align:middle line:90% The story was ruined. 00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:41.360 align:middle line:90% I couldn't-- I couldn't go on. 00:17:41.360 --> 00:17:45.500 align:middle line:90% 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:47.510 align:middle line:84% I really believe that if she grows up, 00:17:47.510 --> 00:17:50.210 align:middle line:84% if she's allowed to grow up, she'll 00:17:50.210 --> 00:17:55.940 align:middle line:84% become an actress, a great scene stealer. 00:17:55.940 --> 00:17:59.120 align:middle line:84% I want to read you one more of these, 00:17:59.120 --> 00:18:02.315 align:middle line:90% one of the last one in fact. 00:18:02.315 --> 00:18:05.000 align:middle line:90% 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.980 align:middle line:84% East of my grandmother's house, south of the pecan grove, 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:13.490 align:middle line:84% there is buried a woman in a beautiful dress. 00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:16.910 align:middle line:84% Mammedaty, they used to know where she is buried 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.580 align:middle line:90% but now no one knows. 00:18:19.580 --> 00:18:22.010 align:middle line:84% If you stand on the front porch of the house 00:18:22.010 --> 00:18:24.950 align:middle line:84% and look eastward towards Carnegie, 00:18:24.950 --> 00:18:27.200 align:middle line:84% you know that the woman is buried 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:30.680 align:middle line:84% somewhere within the range of your vision 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:33.230 align:middle line:90% but her grave is unmarked. 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:38.870 align:middle line:84% She was buried in a cabinet and she wore a beautiful dress. 00:18:38.870 --> 00:18:41.100 align:middle line:90% How beautiful it was. 00:18:41.100 --> 00:18:43.400 align:middle line:84% It was one of those fine buckskin dresses 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:47.150 align:middle line:84% and it was decorated with elk's teeth and beadwork. 00:18:47.150 --> 00:18:52.100 align:middle line:84% That dress is still there under the ground. 00:18:52.100 --> 00:18:57.170 align:middle line:90% 00:18:57.170 --> 00:19:00.590 align:middle line:90% Aho's high moccasins-- 00:19:00.590 --> 00:19:03.140 align:middle line:84% Aho was the name of my grandmother. 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:08.060 align:middle line:84% Aho's high moccasins are made of softest, cream-colored skins. 00:19:08.060 --> 00:19:10.550 align:middle line:84% On each instep there is a bright disk 00:19:10.550 --> 00:19:15.260 align:middle line:84% of beadwork, an eight-pointed star, red and pale blue 00:19:15.260 --> 00:19:18.350 align:middle line:84% on a white field, and there are bands of beadwork 00:19:18.350 --> 00:19:20.570 align:middle line:90% at the soles and ankles. 00:19:20.570 --> 00:19:23.810 align:middle line:84% The flaps of the leggings are wide and richly ornamented 00:19:23.810 --> 00:19:27.095 align:middle line:84% with blue, and red, and green, and white, and lavender beads. 00:19:27.095 --> 00:19:30.240 align:middle line:90% 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:36.090 align:middle line:84% East of my grandmother's house, the sun rises out of the plain. 00:19:36.090 --> 00:19:39.570 align:middle line:84% Once in his life, a man ought to concentrate 00:19:39.570 --> 00:19:43.350 align:middle line:84% his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. 00:19:43.350 --> 00:19:46.290 align:middle line:84% He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape 00:19:46.290 --> 00:19:50.910 align:middle line:84% in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, 00:19:50.910 --> 00:19:56.910 align:middle line:84% to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:59.910 align:middle line:84% He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands 00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:03.210 align:middle line:84% at every season and listens to the sounds that 00:20:03.210 --> 00:20:04.680 align:middle line:90% are made upon it. 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:06.540 align:middle line:84% He ought to imagine the creatures 00:20:06.540 --> 00:20:11.040 align:middle line:84% there and all the faintest motions of the wind. 00:20:11.040 --> 00:20:14.280 align:middle line:84% He ought to recollect the glare of noon 00:20:14.280 --> 00:20:17.775 align:middle line:84% and all the colors of the dawn and dusk. 00:20:17.775 --> 00:20:32.280 align:middle line:90% 00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:38.700 align:middle line:84% The Way to Rainy Mountain was the second of my books. 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:42.060 align:middle line:84% The first was a novel called House Made of Dawn, 00:20:42.060 --> 00:20:45.150 align:middle line:90% which was published in 1960. 00:20:45.150 --> 00:20:48.900 align:middle line:84% And it is the story of a young Indian man, a Pueblo man, 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:52.290 align:middle line:84% who returns from the Second World War and tries to resume 00:20:52.290 --> 00:20:58.920 align:middle line:84% his former traditional way of life but cannot because he has 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:02.730 align:middle line:90% been psychically disoriented. 00:21:02.730 --> 00:21:08.580 align:middle line:84% And so the story then is about his disintegration. 00:21:08.580 --> 00:21:10.710 align:middle line:90% His name is Abel. 00:21:10.710 --> 00:21:13.770 align:middle line:84% Early on in the novel there is a passage 00:21:13.770 --> 00:21:19.050 align:middle line:84% in which Abel sees eagles flying above the Valle Grande. 00:21:19.050 --> 00:21:22.890 align:middle line:84% The Valle Grande being the largest caldera in the world, 00:21:22.890 --> 00:21:24.340 align:middle line:90% if I'm not mistaken. 00:21:24.340 --> 00:21:28.230 align:middle line:84% It's a great valley in North Central New Mexico, very close 00:21:28.230 --> 00:21:28.830 align:middle line:90% to Los Alamos. 00:21:28.830 --> 00:21:32.300 align:middle line:90% 00:21:32.300 --> 00:21:40.730 align:middle line:84% And I want to read you the passage about the eagles. 00:21:40.730 --> 00:21:43.700 align:middle line:84% He was not thinking of the eagles. 00:21:43.700 --> 00:21:45.530 align:middle line:84% He had been walking since daybreak 00:21:45.530 --> 00:21:47.330 align:middle line:84% down from the mountain where that year 00:21:47.330 --> 00:21:51.290 align:middle line:84% he had broken a horse for the rancher John Raymond. 00:21:51.290 --> 00:21:53.900 align:middle line:84% By the middle of the morning, he was 00:21:53.900 --> 00:21:57.950 align:middle line:84% on the rim of the Valle Grande, a great volcanic crater that 00:21:57.950 --> 00:22:01.940 align:middle line:84% lay high up on the western slope of the range. 00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:05.000 align:middle line:84% It was the right eye of the Earth held open to the sun. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:08.090 align:middle line:84% Of all places that he knew, this valley 00:22:08.090 --> 00:22:13.220 align:middle line:84% alone could reflect the great spatial majesty of the sky. 00:22:13.220 --> 00:22:15.650 align:middle line:84% It was scooped out of the dark peaks 00:22:15.650 --> 00:22:19.430 align:middle line:84% like the well of a great gathering storm, deep umber, 00:22:19.430 --> 00:22:22.160 align:middle line:90% and blue, and smoke colored. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.910 align:middle line:84% The view across the diameter was magnificent. 00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:30.140 align:middle line:84% It was an unbelievably great expanse. 00:22:30.140 --> 00:22:32.480 align:middle line:84% As many times as he had been there in the past, 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.090 align:middle line:84% each new sight of it always brought him up short 00:22:35.090 --> 00:22:37.370 align:middle line:90% and he had to catch his breath. 00:22:37.370 --> 00:22:41.660 align:middle line:84% Just there, it seemed a strange and brilliant light lay 00:22:41.660 --> 00:22:44.300 align:middle line:84% upon the world and all the objects in the landscape 00:22:44.300 --> 00:22:47.600 align:middle line:84% were washed clean and set away in the distance. 00:22:47.600 --> 00:22:50.150 align:middle line:84% In the morning sunlight, the Valle Grande 00:22:50.150 --> 00:22:51.980 align:middle line:84% dappled with the shadows of clouds 00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:55.130 align:middle line:84% and vibrant with rolling winter grass. 00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:59.570 align:middle line:84% The clouds were always there, huge, sharply described, 00:22:59.570 --> 00:23:03.320 align:middle line:90% and shining in the pure air. 00:23:03.320 --> 00:23:08.630 align:middle line:84% But the great feature of the valley was its size. 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:13.100 align:middle line:84% It was almost too great for the eye to hold, 00:23:13.100 --> 00:23:17.570 align:middle line:84% strangely beautiful and full of distance. 00:23:17.570 --> 00:23:21.230 align:middle line:84% Such vastness makes for illusion, a kind of illusion 00:23:21.230 --> 00:23:25.400 align:middle line:84% that comprehends reality and where it exists there is always 00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:29.360 align:middle line:90% wonder and exhilaration. 00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:32.060 align:middle line:84% He looked at the facets of a boulder that lay balanced 00:23:32.060 --> 00:23:33.260 align:middle line:90% on the edge of the land. 00:23:33.260 --> 00:23:38.270 align:middle line:84% And the first thing beyond, the vague misty field out 00:23:38.270 --> 00:23:43.040 align:middle line:84% of which it stood, was the floor of the valley itself, 00:23:43.040 --> 00:23:48.230 align:middle line:90% pale and blue green, miles away. 00:23:48.230 --> 00:23:52.160 align:middle line:84% He shifted the focus of his gaze and he could just 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:53.960 align:middle line:84% make out the crossed dots that were 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:58.310 align:middle line:84% cattle, grazing along the river in the faraway plain. 00:23:58.310 --> 00:24:03.530 align:middle line:90% 00:24:03.530 --> 00:24:09.650 align:middle line:84% Then he saw the eagles across the distance, 00:24:09.650 --> 00:24:13.700 align:middle line:84% two of them riding low in the depths 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:16.910 align:middle line:84% and rising diagonally towards him. 00:24:16.910 --> 00:24:18.920 align:middle line:84% He did not know what they were at first 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:20.810 align:middle line:90% and he stood watching them. 00:24:20.810 --> 00:24:26.270 align:middle line:84% Their far silent flight erratic and wild in the bright morning. 00:24:26.270 --> 00:24:31.130 align:middle line:84% They rose and swung across the skyline, veering close at last. 00:24:31.130 --> 00:24:33.980 align:middle line:84% And he knelt down behind the rock, 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:36.560 align:middle line:84% dumb with pleasure and excitement, 00:24:36.560 --> 00:24:38.435 align:middle line:90% holding onto them with his eyes. 00:24:38.435 --> 00:24:40.970 align:middle line:90% 00:24:40.970 --> 00:24:44.810 align:middle line:84% They were golden eagles, a male and a female 00:24:44.810 --> 00:24:46.640 align:middle line:90% in their mating flight. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.910 align:middle line:84% They were cavorting, spinning, and spiraling 00:24:49.910 --> 00:24:54.360 align:middle line:84% on the cold clear columns of air and they were beautiful. 00:24:54.360 --> 00:24:56.990 align:middle line:84% They swooped and hovered, keening on the air 00:24:56.990 --> 00:24:59.180 align:middle line:84% and swung close together, fainting 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:01.580 align:middle line:90% and screaming with delight. 00:25:01.580 --> 00:25:05.060 align:middle line:84% The female was full-grown and the span of her broad wings 00:25:05.060 --> 00:25:07.790 align:middle line:90% was greater than a man's height. 00:25:07.790 --> 00:25:09.980 align:middle line:84% There was a fine flourish to her motion. 00:25:09.980 --> 00:25:13.850 align:middle line:84% She was deceptively, incredibly fast. 00:25:13.850 --> 00:25:18.200 align:middle line:84% And her pivots and wheels were wide and full-blown. 00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.620 align:middle line:84% But her great weight was streamlined 00:25:21.620 --> 00:25:24.840 align:middle line:90% and perfectly controlled. 00:25:24.840 --> 00:25:27.020 align:middle line:90% She carried a rattlesnake. 00:25:27.020 --> 00:25:31.130 align:middle line:84% It hung shining from her feet, limp and curving out 00:25:31.130 --> 00:25:33.830 align:middle line:90% in the trail of her flight. 00:25:33.830 --> 00:25:36.590 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, her wings and tail fanned 00:25:36.590 --> 00:25:38.120 align:middle line:90% catching full on the wind. 00:25:38.120 --> 00:25:40.970 align:middle line:84% And for an instant, she was still 00:25:40.970 --> 00:25:44.270 align:middle line:84% widespread and spectral in the blue 00:25:44.270 --> 00:25:48.260 align:middle line:84% while her mate flared passed and away, 00:25:48.260 --> 00:25:52.970 align:middle line:84% turning around in the distance to look for her. 00:25:52.970 --> 00:25:56.420 align:middle line:84% Then she began to beat upward at an angle from the rim 00:25:56.420 --> 00:26:02.720 align:middle line:84% until she was small in the sky and she let go of the snake. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:10.220 align:middle line:84% It fell slowly, writhing and rolling, floating out 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:13.730 align:middle line:84% like a bit of silver thread against the wide backdrop 00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:15.500 align:middle line:90% of the land. 00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:19.730 align:middle line:84% She held still above, buoyed up on the cold currents. 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:24.230 align:middle line:84% Her crop and hackles gleaming like copper in the sun. 00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:27.740 align:middle line:90% The male swerved and sailed. 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:30.800 align:middle line:84% He was younger than she and a little more than half as large. 00:26:30.800 --> 00:26:33.380 align:middle line:84% He was quicker, tighter in his moves. 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:36.440 align:middle line:90% He let the carrion drift by. 00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:40.100 align:middle line:84% Then suddenly he gathered himself and stooped, 00:26:40.100 --> 00:26:44.150 align:middle line:84% sliding down in a blur of motion to the strike. 00:26:44.150 --> 00:26:46.340 align:middle line:84% He hit the snake in the head with not the slightest 00:26:46.340 --> 00:26:47.810 align:middle line:84% deflection of his course or speed, 00:26:47.810 --> 00:26:52.010 align:middle line:84% cracking its long body like a whip. 00:26:52.010 --> 00:26:58.040 align:middle line:84% Then he rolled and swung upward in a great pendulum arc, 00:26:58.040 --> 00:27:03.320 align:middle line:84% riding out his momentum atop of his glide. 00:27:03.320 --> 00:27:10.970 align:middle line:84% He let go of the snake in turn but the female 00:27:10.970 --> 00:27:13.010 align:middle line:90% did not go for it. 00:27:13.010 --> 00:27:18.680 align:middle line:84% Instead, she soared out over the plate nearly out of sight 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:23.270 align:middle line:84% like a moat, receding into the haze of the far mountain. 00:27:23.270 --> 00:27:27.470 align:middle line:84% The male followed and Abel watched 00:27:27.470 --> 00:27:36.190 align:middle line:84% them go, straining to see, saw them veer once deep 00:27:36.190 --> 00:27:37.180 align:middle line:90% and disappear. 00:27:37.180 --> 00:27:49.000 align:middle line:90% 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:53.620 align:middle line:84% I want to read next a passage from The Names. 00:27:53.620 --> 00:28:00.190 align:middle line:84% I wrote an autobiographical book entitled The Names. 00:28:00.190 --> 00:28:05.870 align:middle line:84% And it is about some of my affairs. 00:28:05.870 --> 00:28:08.320 align:middle line:84% It goes back about five generations 00:28:08.320 --> 00:28:11.090 align:middle line:90% on both sides of my family. 00:28:11.090 --> 00:28:13.630 align:middle line:84% And it is about my growing up in the Southwest. 00:28:13.630 --> 00:28:16.990 align:middle line:90% 00:28:16.990 --> 00:28:18.800 align:middle line:90% I left it off at the age of 17. 00:28:18.800 --> 00:28:21.620 align:middle line:90% 00:28:21.620 --> 00:28:26.410 align:middle line:84% Originally I had planned to carry it much farther along 00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:32.890 align:middle line:84% and indeed I wrote deathless passages about my adulthood, 00:28:32.890 --> 00:28:37.900 align:middle line:84% teaching in Santa Barbara, lying back in California. 00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:38.740 align:middle line:90% You know. 00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:41.680 align:middle line:90% But when I came to the-- 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:47.530 align:middle line:84% when I came to that point where-- 00:28:47.530 --> 00:28:53.830 align:middle line:84% point upon which I left my home of Jemez Pueblo 00:28:53.830 --> 00:28:57.730 align:middle line:84% to go east to school at the age of 17. 00:28:57.730 --> 00:29:00.700 align:middle line:84% When I came to that point, I realized that I 00:29:00.700 --> 00:29:02.930 align:middle line:90% had written a whole thing. 00:29:02.930 --> 00:29:05.470 align:middle line:84% And so that's where this book ends. 00:29:05.470 --> 00:29:12.250 align:middle line:84% And who knows if I will write again about my life 00:29:12.250 --> 00:29:13.960 align:middle line:90% after this point. 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:15.490 align:middle line:90% I don't know about that. 00:29:15.490 --> 00:29:19.810 align:middle line:84% But there is a passage here, which I'm especially fond of. 00:29:19.810 --> 00:29:24.850 align:middle line:84% The passage that is about my Uncle James. 00:29:24.850 --> 00:29:29.740 align:middle line:84% We called him Jimmy, my father's brother. 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:36.290 align:middle line:84% He was a strange man, very sick man. 00:29:36.290 --> 00:29:39.280 align:middle line:90% He died of acute alcoholism. 00:29:39.280 --> 00:29:47.890 align:middle line:84% And I knew him when I was small and along with my cousins 00:29:47.890 --> 00:29:50.500 align:middle line:90% I played dirty tricks on Jimmy. 00:29:50.500 --> 00:29:57.430 align:middle line:84% He was a convenient kind of victim. 00:29:57.430 --> 00:30:04.300 align:middle line:84% But when I grew older, I came to realize that he loved me. 00:30:04.300 --> 00:30:09.350 align:middle line:84% He loved me very much and he was very good to me. 00:30:09.350 --> 00:30:15.430 align:middle line:84% And so when I wrote about him I tried to do so with love. 00:30:15.430 --> 00:30:16.420 align:middle line:90% This is the passage. 00:30:16.420 --> 00:30:23.470 align:middle line:84% I need to explain that Aho is my grandmother, Jimmy's mother. 00:30:23.470 --> 00:30:27.220 align:middle line:84% And the boy in the passage is yours truly. 00:30:27.220 --> 00:30:29.850 align:middle line:90% 00:30:29.850 --> 00:30:32.760 align:middle line:84% James was slouched at the oval table, 00:30:32.760 --> 00:30:37.440 align:middle line:84% his right arm lying under his absent gaze on the oil cloth, 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.990 align:middle line:84% his right hand hanging down from the edge, 00:30:39.990 --> 00:30:41.850 align:middle line:84% the fingers curled slightly, the thumb 00:30:41.850 --> 00:30:47.580 align:middle line:84% extended, almost to his left thigh, his head hanging. 00:30:47.580 --> 00:30:54.570 align:middle line:84% And across the table sat Aho, his mother, composed. 00:30:54.570 --> 00:30:57.030 align:middle line:84% Her hands interlaced in her lap, her feet 00:30:57.030 --> 00:31:00.330 align:middle line:84% crossed, her eyes partly closed and downcast, 00:31:00.330 --> 00:31:02.550 align:middle line:90% shown in the lamplight. 00:31:02.550 --> 00:31:05.430 align:middle line:90% And she was chewing gum. 00:31:05.430 --> 00:31:08.880 align:middle line:84% In her pensive moments, she almost always 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:14.940 align:middle line:84% chewed gum, slowly, exactly, as if with her back teeth 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:18.510 align:middle line:90% to regulate her thoughts. 00:31:18.510 --> 00:31:21.660 align:middle line:84% James thought of the boy, his nephew, 00:31:21.660 --> 00:31:24.540 align:middle line:84% it was his concession to the boy that he had seen him 00:31:24.540 --> 00:31:28.410 align:middle line:84% through the day, had led him around the empty spaces of time 00:31:28.410 --> 00:31:32.220 align:middle line:84% in the morning and afternoon, especially the late afternoon 00:31:32.220 --> 00:31:34.800 align:middle line:90% when the shadow stood still. 00:31:34.800 --> 00:31:36.720 align:middle line:84% They had walked down to the town, 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:40.260 align:middle line:84% had looked into the wide street, had carried out their business 00:31:40.260 --> 00:31:43.440 align:middle line:84% like men of the world in the post office, in the bank, 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:48.790 align:middle line:84% had eaten ice cream, had bought the good toy gun. 00:31:48.790 --> 00:31:52.650 align:middle line:84% They had gone along together or their paths 00:31:52.650 --> 00:31:55.515 align:middle line:84% had crossed many times through the day. 00:31:55.515 --> 00:31:58.690 align:middle line:90% 00:31:58.690 --> 00:32:02.980 align:middle line:84% Through the day, the day had come down to the night 00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:06.550 align:middle line:84% and the boy was asleep, safe and sound. 00:32:06.550 --> 00:32:10.365 align:middle line:90% 00:32:10.365 --> 00:32:17.720 align:middle line:84% Now, a knot would draw very tight 00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:25.670 align:middle line:84% inside the man, the thought, just the thought of being drunk 00:32:25.670 --> 00:32:30.680 align:middle line:84% had a physical effect upon him, a giddiness, a kind of euphoria 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:34.370 align:middle line:84% in which his body seemed to grow lighter and more supple. 00:32:34.370 --> 00:32:37.520 align:middle line:84% And at the same time, there was a kind of resistance in it, 00:32:37.520 --> 00:32:41.000 align:middle line:84% in the flesh and blood, the body's own anticipation 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:44.180 align:middle line:84% of impairment and pain, of dehydration 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:47.840 align:middle line:84% and the sharp contraction of the brain. 00:32:47.840 --> 00:32:50.270 align:middle line:90% His eyes went very dry. 00:32:50.270 --> 00:32:55.040 align:middle line:84% And his tongue and sweat broke out at his head 00:32:55.040 --> 00:32:56.495 align:middle line:90% and at the palms of his hands. 00:32:56.495 --> 00:32:59.590 align:middle line:90% 00:32:59.590 --> 00:33:02.890 align:middle line:84% He saw his mother out of the corner of his eye. 00:33:02.890 --> 00:33:07.630 align:middle line:84% Aho did not provoke him except that the patience in her 00:33:07.630 --> 00:33:10.390 align:middle line:84% pressed upon him like a weariness. 00:33:10.390 --> 00:33:13.480 align:middle line:84% It lay between them as a long distance or an interval 00:33:13.480 --> 00:33:15.730 align:middle line:90% that he could not comprehend. 00:33:15.730 --> 00:33:18.100 align:middle line:90% She was entirely composed. 00:33:18.100 --> 00:33:21.140 align:middle line:84% Painter should have loved her in her composure 00:33:21.140 --> 00:33:22.630 align:middle line:90% then in the lamplight. 00:33:22.630 --> 00:33:26.320 align:middle line:84% Momently, the light shivered in her hair, so lowly 00:33:26.320 --> 00:33:29.740 align:middle line:84% that it seemed barely to emanate there. 00:33:29.740 --> 00:33:32.800 align:middle line:84% Her head, her face, her shoulders, her bosom 00:33:32.800 --> 00:33:35.110 align:middle line:90% were ample and round. 00:33:35.110 --> 00:33:38.830 align:middle line:84% Nothing, neither the corners of her eyes and mouth, 00:33:38.830 --> 00:33:40.960 align:middle line:84% nor the folds of her flesh and the shadows 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:46.120 align:middle line:84% that were set upon her hardened to an edge or an angle 00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:48.700 align:middle line:90% or a flatness anywhere. 00:33:48.700 --> 00:33:51.520 align:middle line:84% Her skin was dark and yet her face 00:33:51.520 --> 00:33:55.030 align:middle line:84% was so radiant against the shadows and the deeper darkness 00:33:55.030 --> 00:33:58.660 align:middle line:84% of her hair and her dress, that her whole expression was 00:33:58.660 --> 00:34:03.640 align:middle line:84% laid out and defined there, fashioned upon the broad round 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:06.940 align:middle line:84% bone of her skull, which was prominent just 00:34:06.940 --> 00:34:10.989 align:middle line:84% now in the strange quality of the light. 00:34:10.989 --> 00:34:13.690 align:middle line:84% Her eyes were half closed and neither 00:34:13.690 --> 00:34:16.179 align:middle line:84% did the lamp's reflection, which guttered there, 00:34:16.179 --> 00:34:21.400 align:middle line:84% seem any way hard and precise but soft and transparent. 00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.909 align:middle line:84% The painter should have wondered how to indicate such a thing. 00:34:24.909 --> 00:34:27.100 align:middle line:84% He should have had to work a great illusion 00:34:27.100 --> 00:34:30.610 align:middle line:84% into a single point, something more a matter of texture 00:34:30.610 --> 00:34:32.949 align:middle line:90% than of color perhaps. 00:34:32.949 --> 00:34:36.460 align:middle line:84% He should have had to bring his artist's hand and his artist's 00:34:36.460 --> 00:34:42.190 align:middle line:84% eye so close together as to be one in the same thing. 00:34:42.190 --> 00:34:47.290 align:middle line:84% She seemed very wise and very strong. 00:34:47.290 --> 00:34:50.590 align:middle line:84% And her strength seemed to consist in rest. 00:34:50.590 --> 00:34:56.290 align:middle line:84% She seemed simply to know how to be comfortable in the world. 00:34:56.290 --> 00:35:01.660 align:middle line:84% James had never been able to tell what she was thinking. 00:35:01.660 --> 00:35:05.290 align:middle line:84% The painter should not have been able to tell. 00:35:05.290 --> 00:35:07.675 align:middle line:84% He should have had to work his brush across a riddle. 00:35:07.675 --> 00:35:13.240 align:middle line:90% 00:35:13.240 --> 00:35:18.910 align:middle line:84% When he went out, the moon had only just appeared. 00:35:18.910 --> 00:35:24.610 align:middle line:84% It was huge and thick and darkly colored at his back, absorbent. 00:35:24.610 --> 00:35:28.330 align:middle line:84% He scarcely knew it was there but he was screwed tight 00:35:28.330 --> 00:35:33.100 align:middle line:84% upon his thirst and he walked again along the highway. 00:35:33.100 --> 00:35:35.440 align:middle line:84% He did not hear the crickets that had 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:37.720 align:middle line:90% begun to crackle everywhere. 00:35:37.720 --> 00:35:41.830 align:middle line:90% 00:35:41.830 --> 00:35:47.980 align:middle line:84% And later, on his way back, the moon 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:52.180 align:middle line:84% was high and colorless, a perfect spot 00:35:52.180 --> 00:35:54.310 align:middle line:90% on the murky midnight. 00:35:54.310 --> 00:35:59.110 align:middle line:84% He stumbled in his joy and stupor, 00:35:59.110 --> 00:36:02.890 align:middle line:84% knowing not yet what he yearned for, 00:36:02.890 --> 00:36:06.700 align:middle line:84% knowing only that he was alive to the night 00:36:06.700 --> 00:36:11.110 align:middle line:90% and strangely exhilarated. 00:36:11.110 --> 00:36:15.640 align:middle line:84% He saw the dead silver dog stealthy in death 00:36:15.640 --> 00:36:19.210 align:middle line:84% and he walked a wide way around it. 00:36:19.210 --> 00:36:27.310 align:middle line:84% He wanted to say serious things but laughter grew up in him. 00:36:27.310 --> 00:36:31.090 align:middle line:84% His laughter rang out, rolled along 00:36:31.090 --> 00:36:34.090 align:middle line:84% the black bank of the creek below the gray grass, 00:36:34.090 --> 00:36:36.700 align:middle line:84% the undulant weight of the wichitas. 00:36:36.700 --> 00:36:41.740 align:middle line:84% Oh God, he thought, the clamorous night. 00:36:41.740 --> 00:36:43.840 align:middle line:84% He could hear everything distinctly now, 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:48.010 align:middle line:84% the rasping of the crickets and the frogs, the wind turning, 00:36:48.010 --> 00:36:52.040 align:middle line:84% leaves sliding upon leaves, a motor in the far distance, 00:36:52.040 --> 00:36:57.520 align:middle line:84% the echo of his laughter dying away and beyond that 00:36:57.520 --> 00:37:00.860 align:middle line:90% the laughter of God. 00:37:00.860 --> 00:37:08.710 align:middle line:84% God's laughter, it was all so beautiful to hear. 00:37:08.710 --> 00:37:12.010 align:middle line:84% And he opened his eyes wide and looked all around 00:37:12.010 --> 00:37:14.320 align:middle line:84% and everything shown in his sight. 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:18.430 align:middle line:84% And it was all so beautiful to see. 00:37:18.430 --> 00:37:24.790 align:middle line:84% He was involved in the light and chanted. 00:37:24.790 --> 00:37:27.220 align:middle line:90% He said, God. 00:37:27.220 --> 00:37:30.100 align:middle line:84% Spoke the name of God, let his teeth 00:37:30.100 --> 00:37:33.880 align:middle line:84% clenched and he felt himself whirling in the light. 00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:35.980 align:middle line:84% The light was like frost on the hills. 00:37:35.980 --> 00:37:38.770 align:middle line:84% It lay out in a great round hollow of the plains 00:37:38.770 --> 00:37:42.010 align:middle line:84% as far as he could see, shifting and quaking 00:37:42.010 --> 00:37:45.055 align:middle line:90% slowly, tumbling like a fog. 00:37:45.055 --> 00:37:48.240 align:middle line:90% 00:37:48.240 --> 00:37:56.100 align:middle line:84% Then the beauty was too much and tears came to his eyes 00:37:56.100 --> 00:38:01.320 align:middle line:84% and he kept saying the name, God, God, God, 00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:04.490 align:middle line:90% until he choked on it. 00:38:04.490 --> 00:38:10.290 align:middle line:84% And through his tears he saw the moon, red, and blue, and green. 00:38:10.290 --> 00:38:14.460 align:middle line:84% A shaft of light like a bolt struck down in the meadow, 00:38:14.460 --> 00:38:19.410 align:middle line:84% not a stone's throw away, among chinaberry trees. 00:38:19.410 --> 00:38:21.240 align:middle line:90% There were deep colors in it. 00:38:21.240 --> 00:38:22.650 align:middle line:84% And it was brighter than the moon 00:38:22.650 --> 00:38:23.880 align:middle line:90% and it took his breath away. 00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:27.330 align:middle line:84% And he wanted everyone to see it, especially the boy. 00:38:27.330 --> 00:38:33.910 align:middle line:84% Look, look, he thought, how God has drawn the sky with light. 00:38:33.910 --> 00:38:36.310 align:middle line:84% Light was laced among the willows. 00:38:36.310 --> 00:38:39.370 align:middle line:84% It set a brightness like fire up on the grass 00:38:39.370 --> 00:38:42.310 align:middle line:84% and it rose and floated like smoke. 00:38:42.310 --> 00:38:44.560 align:middle line:84% It defined clouds in the sky and it 00:38:44.560 --> 00:38:47.800 align:middle line:84% radiated from the clouds like fractures in glass 00:38:47.800 --> 00:38:50.780 align:middle line:90% like spider webs. 00:38:50.780 --> 00:38:58.770 align:middle line:84% Suddenly he knew how small he was, how little he mattered 00:38:58.770 --> 00:39:01.110 align:middle line:90% in the laughter of God. 00:39:01.110 --> 00:39:04.800 align:middle line:84% Not at all really, he knew it once 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:08.340 align:middle line:84% that this moment, the blink of an eye held more beauty 00:39:08.340 --> 00:39:10.740 align:middle line:90% and wonder than he could know. 00:39:10.740 --> 00:39:13.530 align:middle line:84% He had not enough life to deal with it. 00:39:13.530 --> 00:39:15.600 align:middle line:84% He could only suffer the least part of it. 00:39:15.600 --> 00:39:17.640 align:middle line:84% He could only open his eyes and see 00:39:17.640 --> 00:39:20.470 align:middle line:90% what he could see of the world. 00:39:20.470 --> 00:39:26.710 align:middle line:84% And again he laughed together with God. 00:39:26.710 --> 00:39:33.550 align:middle line:84% And he thought, wait a moment God. 00:39:33.550 --> 00:39:35.990 align:middle line:90% Give me a moment. 00:39:35.990 --> 00:39:40.100 align:middle line:84% I have a moment and it is too big for me and I cannot hold it 00:39:40.100 --> 00:39:42.810 align:middle line:90% in my little hands. 00:39:42.810 --> 00:39:50.170 align:middle line:84% You God, you give me the night and the world. 00:39:50.170 --> 00:39:53.260 align:middle line:90% It is a good joke. 00:39:53.260 --> 00:39:59.920 align:middle line:84% And God we laugh but I have seen how 00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:01.540 align:middle line:90% you draw the sky with light. 00:40:01.540 --> 00:40:07.240 align:middle line:90% 00:40:07.240 --> 00:40:10.590 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:40:10.590 --> 00:40:26.000 align:middle line:90%