The Selected Letters

by Wallace Stegner, Page Stegner (editor)

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.

480 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist. Some call him "The Dean of Western Writers." He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.

Reviews

[Christine Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man is a literary genius. He has a sense of humor. He does things with words that I haven’t seen anyone else do. He is just a fantastic person as well, very sincere and thoughtful. He took care of his mother when she was ill, and put off moving away until she had passed from breast cancer. It was interesting to get some perspective from him, particularly regarding the origin of my favorite novel, Angle of Repose. Some people accused him of borrowing extensively from the letters of Mary Foote. Well, yes, he did, but he changed the names and fictionalized the accounts, all with the family’s permission, so it’s not like he kept that a secret. That was his intention from the get-go. His early letters to his wife-to-be are particularly poignant – he was so absolutely in love.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The selection was great, but the notes were spotty -- sometimes repeated the obvious (such as the same title identified twice in successive letters) and often lacking. They are real letters, sent to friends and intended to question and inform, but the context is often lacking. Fortunately, there is a very good chronology and a comprehensive index that often helps. The entries in the "Conservation" section are intended for the public and the most "literary" but because I worked for years in a bookstore, his thoughts on writing and publishing as business are interesting and seem accurate.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read selections of these selected letters, not having read any Stegner previously, and fell in love with the writing, style, personality....looking forward to reading The Angle of Repose.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because the back cover made me think I might get a look at the frontier man while he watches the end of the frontier moving in on him. Good marketing.

Had never read any Stegner before. This was to my detriment, because reading his collected letters without having read the books he references was a little like reading a chronicle of the things we saw in Antarctica without ever having taken a trip to Antarctica. It does make me want to go to Antarctica though.

I particularly liked the crescendo of the last section, letters on Conservation, many of them correspondences with Stewart Udall. One in this collection is the famous Wilderness Letter that helped shape American conservation from 1960 onwards. I don't think Stegner's vision was bullet-proof. For one, the letters fail to explicitly mention Native Americans, and term the continent "virgin."

But he has a defined and compelling vision of us and himself as shaped by communion as well as battle with wild places -- "the challenge against which our character as a people was formed." I think I agree. A balance of tiptoe and leaps across approaches going forward.

Many other subjects too. On writing, on living, on nostalgia, on the West.

[Uliss · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is an interesting read - letters of the father -Wallace Stegner- compiled by his son. it would be more fun if the corresponding letters received were available - but seeing how he communicated with friends, girlfriends, family, editors, reviewers, etc. is very interesting. the letters also span his adult lifetime, so the style of writing changes notably with the times and circumstances. the element of "eavesdropping" is also a part of it - and provides a little insight into some of his well known friends, such as Ansel Adams. It is also bittersweet to read his letters as he grew older, noted physical hardships, and wrote letters in the period up to his unexpected death, with plans and ideas that would have continued if he were able.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been picking this up now and then to read a few letters and it's wonderful. Wallace Stegner is one of my favorite writers and I love seeing a bit of the man behind the work; he was quite droll and his early days don't match what I might have guessed. Highly recommended for any Stegner fans.

[Baldbasq]

This collection of Stegner's letters is the best source of his correspondence now in existence. The letters tell us much about Stegner as a person, scholar, and conservationist

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wallace Stegner writes wonderful books but this book of letters is dull, dull, dull. I had a hard time finishing it. Read it at your own peril.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stegner takes my breath away. Every time.