New Releases by Wallace Stegner

Voor liefhebbers van grote Amerikaanse auteurs als Steinbeck, Updike en Kingsolver. In het Amerika van de jaren dertig volgt dit tijdloze verhaal twee jonge echtparen met dromen van een academische carrière en het familieleven. Wallace Stegner, geprezen als de 'decaan van westerse schrijvers' en winnaar van een Pulitzer-prijs, schreef dit meesterwerk op 78-jarige leeftijd. Twee jonge stellen ontmoeten elkaar tijdens de hoogtijdagen van de Grote Depressie. Terwijl Charity en Sally in blijde verwachting van een kind zijn, werken Sid en Larry beiden aan de faculteit Engels van de Universiteit van Wisconsin. Deze ontmoeting legt de basis voor een levenslange vriendschap die bijna vier decennia overspant. De roman, verteld vanuit het perspectief van de oude Larry, weeft door de jaren heen en onthult de complexiteit van menselijke relaties. 'Een wonderbaarlijk boek, geschreven met de wijsheid van ouderen, maar zonder oud te lijken. Een roman met een immens narratieve kracht.' - The Independent 'Een magnifiek gecomponeerde roman die bruist van levenswijsheid.' - The Washington Post 'Wat behouden blijft' is een boek met veel diepgang, een boek dat nog dagenlang in je hoofd blijft rondspoken, met een slotgedeelte dat onvergetelijk is!' - Bazarow (5 sterren) 'Subliem. 'Wat behouden blijft' is een roman die doordrenkt is van levenswijsheid, vol zit met subliem gearrangeerde zinnen die lezen als een perfect opgetekend gedicht. Een roman die erom vraagt voorgelezen te worden, waarbij je als lezer al direct de auteur voor je ziet, hem hoort, geboeid raakt door een ingebeelde persoon. - Hebban (5 sterren) Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was niet alleen historicus en milieuactivist, maar ook een bejubelde auteur met een indrukwekkend oeuvre. Hij schreef tijdloze romans zoals 'Angle of Repose' (winnaar van de Pulitzer Prize in 1972), 'The Spectator Bird' (winnaar van de National Book Award in 1977) en 'Recapitulation' (1979). In 1980 ontving hij de allereerste Robert Kirsch Award, als erkenning voor zijn buitengewone bijdrage aan de Amerikaanse letteren. Zijn boeken, zowel fictie als historische non-fictie, ademen de Amerikaanse ervaring in het wilde westen. 'Wat behouden blijft' was zijn laatste roman.

Margaret Stuart, fière épouse d'Alec, un fermier aisé de l'Iowa, est heureuse en ménage lorsque sa soeur Elspeth arrive d'Écosse pour venir vivre avec eux. Mais alors que l'automne s'annonce et que l'amitié entre Elspeth et Alec s'approfondit, une série d'événements vient mettre Margaret à rude épreuve. Les émotions trop longtemps contenues, les sentiments qui s'abîment, les relations qui évoluent imperceptiblement commencent à ronger son équilibre et ses certitudes. Le triangle amoureux qui s'est formé entre Alec et les deux soeurs devient un piège dramatique lorsque survient l'irréparable. Il faudra alors sauver ce qui peut l'être.

Bo Mason, his wife, Elsa, and their two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifing from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks outhis fortune--in the hotel business, on new farmland, and, eventually, in illegal rum-running through the threacherous back roads of the American Northwest. Bo chases after the promise of the American dream through Minnesota, the Dakotas, Saskatchewan, Montana, Utah and Nevada, but ultimately there is no escaping the devastating reach of the Depression and his own ruinous fate. In this affecting narrative, a defining masterpiece by the "dean of Western writers" (The New York Times), Wallace Stegner portrays more than three decades in the life of the Mason family as they struggle to survivle during the lean years of the early twentieth century. With an introduction by Robert Stone.

This tour-de-force of American literature and a winner of the National Book Award is a profound, intimate, affecting novel from one of the most esteemed literary minds of the last century and a beloved chronicler of the West. Joe Allston is a cantankerous, retired literary agent who is, in his own words, "just killing time until time gets around to killing me." His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, has not been his choice. He has passed through life as a spectator, before retreating to the woods of California in the 1970s with only his wife, Ruth, by his side. When an unexpected postcard from a long-lost friend arrives, Allston returns to the journals of a trip he has taken years before, a journey to his mother's birth­place where he once sought a link with his past. Uncovering this history floods Allston with memories, both grotesque and poignant, and finally vindicates him of his past and lays bare that Joe Allston has never been quite spectator enough.

In his early years in Yosemite, Ansel Adams formed the habit of writing letters at every opportunity. Among the family, friends, and colleagues with whom he corresponded rank such eminent names as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Jimmy Carter.

A book of timeless importance about the American West by a National Book Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning author. The essays collected in this volume encompass memoir, nature conservation, history, geography, and literature. Delving into the post-World War II boom that brought the Rocky Mountain West—from Montana and Idaho to Utah and Nevada—into the modern age, Stegner's essays explore the essence of the American soul. Writtten over a period of thirty-five years by a writer and thinker who will always hold a unique position in modern American letters, The Sound of Mountain Water is a modern American classic.

A classic novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety. Here is the incredible, moving sequel to the bestselling Big Rock Candy Mountain by the "dean of Western writers" (The New York Times). Bruce Mason returns to Salt Lake City not for his aunt’s funeral, but to encounter the place he fled in bitterness forty-five years ago. A successful statesman and diplomat, Mason had buried his awkward childhood and sealed himself off from the thrills and torments of adolescence to become a figure who commanded international respect. Both the realities of the present recede in the face of ghosts of his past. As he makes the perfunctory arrangements for the funeral, we enter with him on an intensely personal and painful inner pilgrimage: we meet the father who darkened his childhood , the mother whose support was both redeeming and embarrassing, the friend who drew him into the respectable world of which he so craved to be a part, and the woman he nearly married. In this profound book, the sequel to the bestselling The Big Rock Candy Mountain, Wallace Stegner has drawn an intimate portrait of a man understanding how his life has been shaped by experiences seemingly remote and inconsequential.

Blending fact with fiction in this masterful historical novel, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner retells the story of Joe Hill—the Wobbly bard and labor activist who became the stuff of legend when, in 1915, he was executed for the alleged murder of a Salt Lake City businessman. Organizer, agitator, "Labor's Songster"—a rebel from the skin inwards, with an absolute faith in the One Big Union—Joe Hill fought tirelessly in the frequently violent battles between organized labor and industry. But though songs and stories still vaunt him, and his legend continues to inspire those who feel the injustices he fought against, Joe Hill may not have been a perfectly saintly crusader—and may have been motivated by impulses darker than the search for justice. Joe Hill is a full-bodied portrait of both the man and the myth: from his entrance into the short-lived Industrial Workers of the World union, the most militant organization in the history of American labor, to his trial, imprisonment, and final martyrdom. His famous last words: "Don't waste time mourning. Organize."

Since 1984, Literary Arts has welcomed many of the world's most renowned authors and storytellers to its stage. In celebration of their thirty-year anniversary, Tin House Books has collected highlights from the series in a single volume. Since 1984, Literary Arts has welcomed many of the world’s most renowned authors and storytellers to its stage for one of the country’s largest lectures series. Sold-out crowds congregate at Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to hear these writers’ discuss their work and their thoughts on the trajectory of contemporary literature and culture. In celebration of Literary Arts’ thirty-year anniversary, Tin House Books has collected highlights from the series in a single volume. Whether it’s Wallace Stegner exploring how we use fiction to make sense of life or Ursula K. Le Guin on where ideas come from, Margaret Atwood on the need for complex female characters or Robert Stone on morality and truth in literature, Edward P. Jones on the role of imagination in historical novels or Marilynne Robinson on the nature of beauty, these essays illuminate not just the world of letters but the world at large.

Quante vite si nascondono in una sola? È la domanda che assilla Lyman Ward, malato e in esilio volontario nella casa di famiglia a Grass Valley, California. Alle spalle ha una brillante carriera universitaria e una vita appagante. Ora che ha perso tutto, un istinto primordiale lo spinge a cercare una risposta — un principio di ordine — tra le carte lasciate in quella casa da sua nonna, Susan Burling Ward, artista e scrittrice. Emerge così il mosaico di una vita consumata tra i paesaggi sconfinati del West della corsa all'oro, al fianco di uno sfortunato ingegnere minerario cui la legavano un matrimonio difficile e un sentimento contraddittorio e profondo. Susan è di volta in volta moglie docile, indomita pioniera, ospite perfetta, madre ansiosa, artista apprezzata, compagna ribelle, amante delusa, stoica custode di una famiglia. Intorno a lei ruota un universo di equilibri e affetti che un solo passo falso potrebbe infrangere per sempre. Tra le catastrofi e i miracoli che costellano la vita di Susan, Lyman ritrova il filo della propria, e la risposta che stava cercando. Un grande romanzo americano che ribalta il logoro mito del vecchio West e ne rivela l'essenza profonda: l'ultima vera cornice epica a disposizione del mondo contemporaneo.

Joe Allston es un agente literario jubilado que vive retirado en California junto a su mujer, Ruth; sin antepasados ni descendientes (sus padres y su único hijo murieron hace tiempo), se siente como un espectador que asiste al final de su vida. La llegada de la postal de una vieja amiga le obliga a volver sobre los diarios que escribió veinte años atrás cuando, durante unos meses, viajó con su mujer por Dinamarca para conocer el país del que era originaria su familia. Ruth convence a su marido para que cada noche le lea un fragmento de esos diarios, y así van reviviendo lo sucedido durante aquel viaje, en especial la relación del matrimonio con la misteriosa aristócrata danesa Astrid Wredel-Krarup, que fue su anfitriona en Copenhague. El recuerdo de esa época despierta en ellos sentimientos y preguntas largamente postergados y les lleva a reflexionar sobre aspectos trascendentales de sus vidas. Al igual que en novelas anteriores, Stegner consigue retratar con precisión la multiplicidad de sensaciones y sentimientos que se agolpan en la madurez. El pájaro espectador mereció el National Book Award en 1977. «Uno de nuestros más grandes escritores contemporáneos.» The Washington Post «Elegante y entretenida (...) cada escena está hábilmente desarrollada y cada efecto brillantemente logrado.»The Atlantic «Stegner (...) creyó y escribió sobre la dignidad del ser humano y su capacidad para sobreponerse a sus defectos.»Rodrigo Fresán (ABCD)

Cuando dos jóvenes parejas se conocen durante la Gran Depresión surge entre ellas una amistad que durará toda la vida. Son muchas las cosas que inicialmente comparten: Charity Lang y Sally Morgan están esperando su primer hijo, y sus maridos Sid y Larry son profesores de Literatura en la Universidad de Wisconsin, aunque su relación se va haciendo más compleja a medida que comparten décadas de lealtad, amor, fragilidad y desacuerdos. Treinta y cuatro años más tarde del inicio de esta amistad los Morgan visitan la colonia de veraneo de sus amigos en Vermont para el que saben será su último fin de semana junto a Charity. Durante esa visita Larry rememora todos sus años de amistad: las alegrías, las penas, las ilusiones y también los sueños que quedaron por cumplir; pero por encima del relato de los hechos late una profunda reflexión sobre el amor y la amistad, sobre los intentos de cuatro personas por hacer frente a las tribulaciones de la vida. Publicada originalmente en 1987, e inédita hasta ahora en castellano, En lugar seguro se ha convertido por derecho propio en una de las novelas americanas más apreciadas del siglo XX. Con esta novela Libros del Asteroide inicia la publicación de la obra de Wallace Stegner en español, que continuará con Ángulo de reposo y The Spectator Bird.

Quan dues joves parelles es coneixen durant la Gran Depressió sorgeix entre elles una amistat que durarà tota la vida. Encara que són moltes les coses que comparteixen a l'inici Charity Lang i Sally Morgan esperen el seu primer fill, els seus marits Sid i Larry són professors de Literatura a la Universitat de Wisconsin , la seva relació es va fent més complexa a mesura que comparteixen dècades de lleialtat, amor, fragilitat i desacords. Trenta-quatre anys més tard de l'inici de l'amistat, els Morgan visiten la colònia d'estiueig dels seus amics a Vermont bo i sabent que serà el seu darrer cap de setmana al costat de Charity. Durant la visita, Larry rememora els anys d'amistat: les alegries, les penes, les il lusions i també els somnis que no es van realitzar; alhora, en el decurs del relat dels fets hi és latent una profunda reflexió sobre l'amor i l'amistat, sobre els intents de quatre persones de plantar cara a les adversitats de la vida. Wallace Stegner, fins ara totalment inèdit en català, és un dels màxims exponents del realisme nord-americà de la segona meitat del segle XX. En lloc segur, publicada originalment el 1987, va ser la darrera novel la que Stegner va escriure.

A re-publication of a lecture originally delivered by Wallace Stegner as a Tanner Lecture at the University of Utah on February 25, 1980.

Introduction by Terry Tempest Williams Afterword by T. H. Watkins Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

Wallace Stegner, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1972, was a great writer. As an author, historian, teacher, and environmentalist, he influenced countless prominent individuals during his long life. Showcasing some of those relationships, these letters (written between 1933 and 1993) cover a broad range of topics, including literature, history, conservation, and Stanford. Here are letters to colleagues, like Ansel Adams, friends and family, as well as many students who went on to become well–respected authors, among them Wendell Berry, John Daniel, Barry Lopez, William Kittredge, and Robert Stone. In 1946 he founded the prestigious Stegner Fellowship Program. In 1961, his memos to then Secretary of the Interior Steward Udall set the tone and agenda for what would become the modern environmental movement. Here, in their entirety, are the letters that track it all. For a man who had no interest in writing an autobiography, they offer an inside look at his "unedited thoughts and opinions, and to a factual narrative untransformed by the literary imagination, to life lived before being lived," writes his son Page Stegner in his introduction. Here is history as told through correspondence with people who helped shape literature, politics, and environmentalism in the twentieth century.

In a literary career spanning more than fifty years, Wallace Stegner created a remarkable record of the history and culture of twentieth-century America. Each of the thirty-one stories contained in this volume embody some of the best virtues and values to be found in contemporary fiction, demonstrating why the author is acclaimed as one of America's master storytellers. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Wallace Stegner founded the acclaimed Stanford Writing Program-a program whose alumni include such literary luminaries as Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone, and Raymond Carver. Here Lynn Stegner brings together eight of Stegner's previously uncollected essays-including four never-before-published pieces -on writing fiction and teaching creative writing. In this unique collection he addresses every aspect of fiction writing-from the writer's vision to his or her audience, from the use of symbolism to swear words, from the mystery of the creative process to the recognizable truth it seeks finally to reveal. His insights will benefit anyone interested in writing fiction or exploring ideas about fiction's role in the broader culture.

Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of personal, historical, and geographic discovery Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian Lyman Ward sets out to write his grandparents' remarkable story, chronicling their days spent carving civilization into the surface of America's western frontier. But his research reveals even more about his own life than he's willing to admit. What emerges is an enthralling portrait of four generations in the life of an American family. "Cause for celebration . . . A superb novel with an amplitude of scale and richness of detail altogether uncommon in contemporary fiction." —The Atlantic Monthly "Brilliant . . . Two stories, past and present, merge to produce what important fiction must: a sense of the enchantment of life." —Los Angeles Times This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Jackson J. Benson. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Pour les écrivains américains informellement regroupés sous la bannière de l'école dite du Montana (ou de Missoula), et surtout aux yeux de Jim Harrison et de Thomas McGuane, Wallace Stegner (1904-1993) demeure la figure centrale - une manière de père spirituel - de la nouvelle littérature de l'Ouest. Publié en 1976 ? Vue Cavalière (The Spectator Bird), qui valut au romancier, quelques mois après sa parution, d'être couronné par le prestigieux National Book Award, est une méditation amère sur la difficulté qu'il y a à vivre "dans le temps " - et sans doute la meilleure introduction possible à l'œuvre de Stegner, laquelle est lue aujourd'hui dans le monde entier... Sauf en France. Un homme qui a le plus clair de sa vie derrière lui, et à qui presque tout semble avoir réussi, rouvre les pages d'un journal intime qu'il a tenu bien des années plus tôt à l'occasion d'un voyage en Europe, et y trouve la preuve de ce qu'il ne peut s'empêcher de considérer comme son échec : il se rend compte qu'il a passé à côté de l'essentiel, ses diverses activités ne lui ayant permis, au mieux, que de tuer le temps. Derrière ces notes jetées autrefois sur le papier bouge encore le grand rêve de liberté qu'il a enterré au fond de son cœur, tandis que lui reviennent en mémoire les mille renoncements à cette même liberté qui ont formé le tissu ordinaire de ses jours. Avec lui, et avec Ruth, sa femme complice de toujours, nous lisons - nous relisons - cette chronique du désenchantement. Le présent regimbe à la mise au jour de ce passé qui le disqualifie. Le vieux couple, ébranlé par cette évocation décidément dure à avaler ? s'interroge et doute. La vie, à l'instant d'en finir s'insurge et proteste, consciente pourtant que les jeux sont faits. Dérisoire sursaut de la liberté captive - mais notre seule grandeur n'est-elle pas taillée à l'aune de cet inutile combat ? L'on voudrait faire ce livre à tous ceux qui pensent que la littérature américaine fait bon marché de la subtilité des sentiments.

Through his work for the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society and his service as special assistant to the Secretary of the interior, Stegner contributed substantially to the emergence and development of the environmental movement.

Joe Allston, the retired literary agent of Stegner's National Book Award-winning novel, The Spectator Bird, returns in this disquieting and keenly observed novel. Scarred by the senseless death of their son and baffled by the engulfing chaos of the 1960s, Allston and his wife, Ruth, have left the coast for a California retreat. And although their new home looks like Eden, it also has serpents: Jim Peck, a messianic exponent of drugs, yoga, and sex; and Marian Catlin, an attractive young woman whose otherworldly innocence is far more appealing—and far more dangerous.

These 31 stories span a literary career of more than 50 years and serve as a true testament to "one of America's most distinguished men of letters".--The Boston Globe. Here are tales of young love and older wisdom; of the order and consistency of the natural world; and of the chaos, contradictions and continuities of the human being.

Enjoy a close look at America, with a decidely personal touch, by seasoned observers of the continent's varied human and natural history. The range is wide, from Maine west to the Pacific Northwest and south to Florida, across the Mississippi, the Plains and the Rocky Mountains through the Canyonlands to California. American Places, a splendid marriage of text and photographs, was a dozen years in the making. It is graced with eighty-nine dazzling color photographs taken especially for the book by Eliot Porter. Conceived as a unique exploration of North America's human and natural history, it has much to say about how the American people and the American land have interacted - how they have shaped one another - what patterns of life, with what chances of continuity, have arisen out of the confrontations between an unformed society and a virgin continent. American Places begins with the first impressions, in their own words, of the early explorers and settlers of the continent and ends today - five hundred years later. Along the way it evokes the sights, sounds, and people of this diverse land to reveal why America has had a powerful hold on the imagination - first of the European explorers and then of generations of immigrants. Every chapter in the book and every photograph can be considered an illustration of a stage in the process of our adaptation and naturalization. Some American places - the Maine coast, Utah's Colorado Plateau, to name two - are better understood by Eliot Porter's photographs, unembellished by words. Others - Salt Lake and the Mississippi Valley - where several hundred years of human history are lost on today's scene, are better rendered in words. There hsa been no attempt by photographers or writers to cover exactly the same terrain, or merely to illustrate, in words or pictures, the other's work. A unique and striking work, American Places will appeal to a broad range of readers: naturalists, conservationists, historians, those who appreciate great photography and good literature - in short, to just about everybody.

A passionate work about the fragile and arid West that Stegner loves

A revised edition with an extended new interview illuminating Stegner's reactions to the changes that flooded over the American West in the 1980s. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR