The Norman Maclean Reader

Norman Maclean author O Alan Weltzien author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:14th Nov '08

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Norman Maclean Reader cover

In his eighty-eight years, Norman Maclean (1902-90) played many parts: fisherman, logger, firefighter, scholar, teacher. But it was a role he took up late in life, that of writer, which won him enduring fame and critical acclaim - as well as the devotion of readers worldwide. Though the 1976 collection "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories" was the only book Maclean published in his lifetime, it was an unexpected success, and the moving family tragedy of the title novella - based largely on Maclean's memories of early twentieth-century Montana - has proved to be one of the most enduring American stories ever written. The posthumous publication in 1992 of "Young Men and Fire", Maclean's deeply personal investigative account of a deadly forest fire, only added to his reputation, reacquainting readers with the power of his spare, evocative prose.With "The Norman Maclean Reader", the University of Chicago Press is proud to add a fitting final volume to Maclean's celebrated oeuvre. Bringing together previously unpublished materials with incidental writings and selections from his two masterpieces, the Reader will serve as the perfect introduction for readers new to Maclean, while offering longtime fans new insight into his life and career.Much of the pleasure of "The Norman Maclean Reader" lies in the rounded picture it gives of Maclean the man. A series of witty, perceptive personal essays present Maclean from a variety of angles: in "This Quarter I Am Taking McKeon," the master teacher distills the lessons of decades in the classroom; in "The Pure and the Good: On Baseball and Backpacking," Maclean the scholar turns his attention to poetic rhythm and the importance of craft; in "Retrievers Good and Bad," we see Maclean the memoirist first beginning to draw on his wealth of family stories.A generous selection of letters, as well as excerpts from a 1986 interview, serve to flesh out the Reader's portrait of Maclean, showing us a writer fully aware of the nuances of his craft, and a man as at home in the recondite atmosphere of the University of Chicago as in the quiet hills of his beloved Montana. The letters find Maclean corresponding about fishing with Nick Lyons, the first significant reviewer of "A River Runs Through It"; about literature and teaching...

"It is an enchanted tale.... I have read the story three times now, and each time it seems fuller." - Roger Sale, New York Review of Books "Altogether beautiful in the power of its feeling.... As beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway." - Alfred Kazin, Chicago Tribune Book World "In 1990 Norman Maclean died in body, but for hundreds of thousands of readers he will live as long as fish swim and books are made." - Annie Proulx "His description of the conflagration terrifies, but it is his battle with words, his effort to turn the story of the 13 men into tragedy that makes this book a classic." - New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, Best Books of 1992 "Maclean is always with the brave young dead.... They could not have found a storyteller with a better claim to represent their honor.... A great book." - James R. Kincaid, New York Times Book Review"

ISBN: 9780226500263

Dimensions: 23mm x 16mm x 2mm

Weight: 567g

304 pages