Description
Book SynopsisIn a career spanning more than fifty years, Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) emerged as the greatest contemporary author of the American West - writing more than two dozen works of history, biography, essays, and fiction. Jackson J. Benson's
Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work is the first full-dress biography of this celebrated “Dean of Western Writers”.
Trade Review“In this engrossing work, Benson offers a portrait of a resilient truth-seeker, steadfast moralist, obsessive realist, and compassionate humanist who became the standard-bearer for western regionalist writing.”—
Booklist“Benson has written with admiration and fairness this first full-scale study of Stegner's life and accomplishments. . . . Highly recommended.”—
Library Journal"Benson is doing a fine job re-discovering Western writers."
—California Territorial Quarterly Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of IllustrationsIntroduction: Against the Grain--A Heritage of Integrity1. The Last Homestead Frontier: A Prairie Childhood2. From Primitive to Intellectual: The Education of Wallace Stegner3. From Student to Professor: The Further Education of Wallace Stegner4. Becoming a Novelist: Write a Novel and Win a Prize5. Accomplished Writer, Harvard Teacher, and Friend to the Famous: What More Do You Need?6. Hard Work at Harvard: Climbing the Big Rock Candy Mountain7. Looking Back at the West From Cambridge8. From the Fight Against Rugged Individualism to the Fight Against Prejudice and Racism9. Back to Fiction, On to Stanford10. Abandoning the Novel and Embracing the Short Story11. From Short Story Writer to Environmentalist12. To the Barricades for the Environment13. Travel, Travel Literature, and the Search for Narrative Voice14. An All-Star Cast15. The Struggle to Locate Oneself16. Historian and "Contemporary"17. Trouble in the Sixties18. A New Life19. The Pulitzer and Beyond20. Back to Biography and Another Prizewinning Novel21. The Past That Comes Back to Haunt Us22. Crossing to Safety23. Giving All to TimeNotes and DocumentationIndex
