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Earth Horizon
Mary Austin published her autobiography in 1932 near the end of her long and creative career. Earth Horizon is both an account of her personal life and of her development as a writer. As always true to her special individualism, she wrote this book sometimes in the first person voice and sometimes in the third person. Using this literary device enabled her to speak frankly about her life while also commenting on the events and decisions that formed and influenced her life and writing. Earth Horizon is not only unique in its approach but brings a special psychological interest to the subject of autobiography.
424 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
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About the author
Mary Hunter Austin
97 books80 followersMary Hunter Austin was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist, conservationist, and defender of Native American and Spanish-American rights and culture.
After graduating from Blackburn College in 1888, she moved with her family to California and established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She married Stafford Wallace Austin In 1891 and they lived in various towns in California’s Owens Valley before separating in 1905.
One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her popular book The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California. She said, "I was only a month writing ... but I spent 12 years peeking and prying before I began it."
After visiting Santa Fe in 1918, Austin settled there in 1924. She helped establish The Santa Fe Little Theatre (still operating today as The Santa Fe Playhouse). She was also active in preserving the local culture of New Mexico, establishing the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in 1925.
In 1929, she co-authored a book, Taos Pueblo, with photographer Ansel Adams. It was printed in 1930 in a limited edition of only 108 copies. It is now quite rare because it included actual photographs made by Adams rather than reproductions.
She is best known for her nature classic Land of Little Rain (1903) and her play The Arrow Maker (1911).
After graduating from Blackburn College in 1888, she moved with her family to California and established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She married Stafford Wallace Austin In 1891 and they lived in various towns in California’s Owens Valley before separating in 1905.
One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her popular book The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California. She said, "I was only a month writing ... but I spent 12 years peeking and prying before I began it."
After visiting Santa Fe in 1918, Austin settled there in 1924. She helped establish The Santa Fe Little Theatre (still operating today as The Santa Fe Playhouse). She was also active in preserving the local culture of New Mexico, establishing the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in 1925.
In 1929, she co-authored a book, Taos Pueblo, with photographer Ansel Adams. It was printed in 1930 in a limited edition of only 108 copies. It is now quite rare because it included actual photographs made by Adams rather than reproductions.
She is best known for her nature classic Land of Little Rain (1903) and her play The Arrow Maker (1911).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 6, 2015
"Earth Horizon" is a fascinating autobiography of early conservationist, feminist and advocate for Native American issues Mary Hunter Austin, but it can be difficult to read in places, in part because many of the people she assumed everyone would know have been forgotten but also because her voice comes across as surprisingly whiny, selfish and even arrogant.
Austin has a strong feeling of entitlement from childhood and the conviction the she is a great genius, which is somehow uncomfortable to read and verges on the edge of monomania. The fact that she switches back and forth from third person to first person is rather strange, too. However, the book provides an compelling look at life in the late 19th c. American midwest, turn of the century California. She talks about her acquaintance with John Muir and other great California writers, artists and thinkers and describes life in New Mexico in the early 20th century. A valuable resource for anyone interested in California history and the American West, but not as much fun to read as her other writings.
Austin has a strong feeling of entitlement from childhood and the conviction the she is a great genius, which is somehow uncomfortable to read and verges on the edge of monomania. The fact that she switches back and forth from third person to first person is rather strange, too. However, the book provides an compelling look at life in the late 19th c. American midwest, turn of the century California. She talks about her acquaintance with John Muir and other great California writers, artists and thinkers and describes life in New Mexico in the early 20th century. A valuable resource for anyone interested in California history and the American West, but not as much fun to read as her other writings.
March 20, 2016
Mary Austin's writings reflect her life, and her autobiography is a solid image of the world as it changed from her birth in 1864 to her death in 1934. On the forefront of American women writers, Austin's intellectual analysis and insights of her world, gender roles, education, art, and politics provide the reader a mirror of the Middlewest, Austin's birthplace, then Eastern California and the Southwest, ending with her focus on Carmel and Santa Fe.
Austin knew and communicated regularly with all of the great and the lesser poets, essayists, and novelists of her time; her travels to England broadened her contacts. She was immersed in the world of art and artists. Her autobiography chronicles her own development as a writer as well as a feminist, although that term might not be one she herself used.
Vignettes of Mary Austin's experiences, from childhood through adolescence, and finally adulthood and maturity reveal a fascinating woman in a time when women were still often simply the keepers of home and hearth.
Austin knew and communicated regularly with all of the great and the lesser poets, essayists, and novelists of her time; her travels to England broadened her contacts. She was immersed in the world of art and artists. Her autobiography chronicles her own development as a writer as well as a feminist, although that term might not be one she herself used.
Vignettes of Mary Austin's experiences, from childhood through adolescence, and finally adulthood and maturity reveal a fascinating woman in a time when women were still often simply the keepers of home and hearth.
June 16, 2012
(nothing to add to the book description I just wrote)
July 9, 2012
I really enjoyed this autobiography of a fine Western writer and a remarkable woman who fought for suffrage and wrote about California and Colorado.
October 19, 2023
I love Mary Austin and I love her book "The Land of Little Rain" but this autobiography was definitely a slog at times and, in my opinion, focused far too much on her childhood and not nearly enough on the desert landscape she loved.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews