Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner
Laughing Boy
by Oliver La Farge
Summary
A romantic tragedy set in the Navajo nation, following the doomed love between Laughing Boy, a traditional silversmith, and Slim Girl, a woman caught between two worlds after being raised in white boarding schools.
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Historical Context & Significance
La Farge was an anthropologist who had lived among the Navajo; his novel was praised as one of the first respectful literary portrayals of Native American life, though it has since been critiqued for its ethnographic romanticization.