The centennial of Wallace Stegner’s birth (1909- 2009) is upon us. Two books and a documentary film provide valuable glimpses of his major importance as a writer and environmental activist. They also correct mistaken notions about Stegner.
Stegner sometimes suffered from misidentification. Some depicted him as a literary blood brother to Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour. Others portrayed him as a hidebound traditionalist unable to adjust to the modern West. Late in his career, a handful of misguided critics went so far as to charge Stegner with plagiarism.
These critics and naysayers miss Stegner’s major contributions as a novelist, historian, and biographer of the American West.
Stegner’s “Crossing to Safety” is one of my favorite novels. Beautiful.
Fans of Wendell Berry might be interested to know that Berry went to Stanford on a Wallace Stegner Fellowship and was taught by Stegner. Apparently the two developed a rather fast friendship. The similarities between them are certainly striking – that lyrical, earth-bound approach to language and relationships.