Publication
Counterpoint (2008), 480 pages
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Description
Wallace Stegner, winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize, was the author of 13 novels and five collections of short stories, as well as the founder of Stanford University's creative writing program. This collection of a lifetime of Stegner's letters provides a long-awaited look into the life and mind of one of our most important writers. Edited by his son Page, Stegner's expansive correspondence shows him not only as a lauded educator and author but also as a man who never stopped learning, never stopped questioning and pushing deeper into the foundation of who he was and where he was from.
User reviews
LibraryThing member nemoman
Stegner's son arranges his father's letters chronologically in different subject areas: Origins, Biographers and Critics, Reflections on the Works, etc. The arrangement works well because each section takes you back in time once more and reconnects with the prior sections. Stegner's letters are
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quite well written and show considerable thought. He wrote the letters early in the morning to "warm up his fingers" for the real work to come. I reflect on the loss that is being inflicted by the advent of the internet and email. With letter writing in decline, one wonders whether in the future we will continue to have such a rich wriiten adjunct through which to gain more insight into famous personages. The man who emerges from the letters is pretty much the person you would expect from reading his books. He is a man of consumate integrity with a love for the west and its landscape. He is modest and and an adherent to my mom's favorite adage: "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone- don't say anything at all." If there were any serious warts in Wallace's personality, they do not appear in these "selected" letters. For those who love Stegner's writing (which is the only likely audience for the book) the letters will enrich your understanding of the man and his books. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1582434468 / 9781582434469
Physical description
480 p.; 5.7 inches
Pages
480