Oliver La Farge (American novelist, anthropologist) Add a review

Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge II (December 19, 1901 – August 2, 1963) was an American writer and anthropologist. In 1925, he surveyed many early Olmec sites in Mexico, and later studied additional sites in Central America and the American Southwest. He wrote more than 15 scholarly works on this topic, mostly about Native American cultures.

In addition, he wrote several novels, one of which, Laughing Boy (1929), won a Pulitzer Prize. La Farge also wrote short stories, published in such prominent magazines as The New Yorker and Esquire.

His more notable works, both fiction and non-fiction, emphasize Native American cultures. He was most familiar with the Navajo people and was fluent in their language. They gave him a Navajo name, 'Anast'harzi Nez', meaning "Tall Cliff-Dweller".