Wallace Stegner Criticism
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was a distinguished American writer celebrated for his novels, short stories, biographies, and essays. Best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Angle of Repose, Stegner also made significant contributions to short fiction, earning three O. Henry First Prize awards. His nearly fifty published stories frequently appeared in esteemed periodicals like Harper's and Atlantic Monthly and were included in three collections.
Stegner's literary work often grapples with themes of identity and the perpetual struggle of the individual, as noted by Clark Kimball. His stories typically reflect his life experiences, marked by a transient upbringing across the western United States due to his father's restless pursuit of success. This itinerant lifestyle greatly influenced Stegner's narrative style and thematic focus, particularly the tension between stability and impermanence.
After earning his education at the University of Utah and the University of Iowa, Stegner began a successful teaching career at institutions like Harvard and Stanford, where he influenced a new generation of writers through the creative-writing program he led. Notable writers such as Raymond Carver and Larry McMurtry benefited from Stegner's mentorship.
Stegner's short fiction, often set against the backdrop of the American West, addresses personal identity and the complex interplay between past and present, generational conflicts, and the significance of place and history in cultural identity. His settings, as Charles E. Cascio observes, are more than mere backdrops; they are integral to the narrative, embodying the characters' challenges and enriching the story's context.
Critics appreciate Stegner's ability to draw from personal experience, though some experimental works are viewed as contrived. His short stories are valued for their insight into his novels, with characters occasionally transitioning between the two forms. As noted by Cascio, Stegner's shorts offer a "great community," engaging readers through authentic narratives that resonate with the enduring qualities of history.
Contents
- Principal Works
- Stegner, Wallace (Contemporary Literary Criticism)
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Stegner, Wallace (Short Story Criticism)
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A Problem in Fiction
(summary)
In the following essay, Stegner recreates the experience of writing 'The Women on the Wall,' describing how the story came to him and how he developed the plot.
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Twenty Years of Wallace Stegner
(summary)
In the following excerpted survey of Stegner's short fiction, Eisinger declares the author indecisive. Eisinger suggests that Stegner, the author of nine volumes of fiction, is perhaps more important to contemporary literary history than he is to literature. He argues that Stegner has rejected extreme positions and urges the discovery of a middle way of viewing man and his social experience, focusing on the problem of identity and the human will.
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Wallace Stegner: Trial by Existence
(summary)
In this excerpt, the critic explores the dualities of civilization and nature and life and death in Stegner's short stories and critiques the author's writing techniques.
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Literary Criticism and Short Fiction
(summary)
In the following excerpt, the critics survey Stegner's short fiction, paying particular attention to "The Women on the Wall" and "Field Guide to the Western Birds."
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Wallace Stegner's Art of Literary Allusion: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Faust in 'Maiden in a Tower'
(summary)
In the following essay, Ellis examines the life-in-death and death-in-life metaphor in the story 'Maiden in a Tower.' The critic also argues that literary reference in this story to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Faust help explain the importance of the unconsummated sexual encounter that the main character Kimball remembers and why this constitutes a 'failure' on Kimball's part.
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Fiction: A Lens on Life
(summary)
In the following essay, Stegner discusses the work of the serious fiction writer who he calls 'a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life.'
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The Early Works
(summary)
In the following interview, Etulain assists Stegner in exploring his early development as a novelist, discussing his initial encounters with literature, the influences that shaped his writing style, and the evolution of his career, including the creation of his first short stories and the novella Remembering Laughter.
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The Outsider May Be You
(summary)
In the following assessment of Collected Stories, Tyler praises Stegner's tales, calling them "as solid as good furniture" and naming Stegner a master of the short story form.
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Wallace Stegner: Lessons of The Master
(summary)
In the following estimation of Collected Stories, Garrett appreciates Stegner's ability to present, with equal believability, a wide range of characters and situations.
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A review of Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner
(summary)
Below, Kimball writes that Stegner is "quintessentially an American writer," and notes that Stegner is very successful in presenting the struggles of the individual.
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Writing the Land
(summary)
Here, Klinkenborg praises Stegner's traditional narrative style and discusses Stegner as a "Western writer."
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Cities of the Living: Disease and the Traveler in the Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner
(summary)
In the essay below, Zahlan studies how the main characters in "The Traveler" and "City of the Living" react to the foreign places to which they travel and how each reacts to the threat of illness and disease very differently.
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Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner
(summary)
In this review the critic admires Stegner's skill at presenting single moments in people's lives poetically and powerfully.
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A Problem in Fiction
(summary)
- Further Reading