Dec 24, 2009

Angle of Repose | Literary Precedents

Angle of Repose is at once part of and outside the traditions of western literature. The novel's self-conscious realism separates it from most western fiction, which romanticizes the setting and peoples it with outsized heroes and villains. Angle of Repose is part of the historical record in which western society was built by miners from Cornwall, ladies from Vermont, and restless men who just wanted a place where they could live free. Some critics suggest that Stegner writes in a literary tradition called "realism" or "American Realism." This was the predecessor of the...