From Book News, Inc.
The "trips" are literary journeys made by ten writers (from James Fenimore Cooper to James Welch) linked by their landscape. In these essays, their works are studied for their revelation of key issues of western identity, including the conflict between the mythic West and the real complications and austerities of life in Montana. Bevis is in the English department at the U. of Montana. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Wallace Stegner
This book comes as close as any book I know to defining a culture of the West.
Book Description
Ten Tough Trips is William W. Bevis's literary journey through the works of ten of the West's most prominent authors, including A. B. Guthrie, Jr., D'Arcy McNickle, James Welch, Richard Hugo, Ivan Doig, and Norman Maclean. In a series of lucid and witty essays originally assembled to complement the award-winning book, The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology, Bevis deflates European myths of escape to a natural West beyond civilization and shows how Montana has developed its own voice, true to the complications and austerities of a splendid land. His chapters on Native American writers have been especially well received. Through sensitive and discerning analysis, Bevis shows how love of the land can become more enduring and haunting even as the myths are stripped away, and in a new afterword, he addresses the emergence of important women writers from 1990 to the present. Of particular note is his consideration of Mary Clearman Blew and her extraordinary m emoir, All But the Waltz, which Bevis believes to be a pioneering work reflective of the postmodern West.
About the Author
William W. Bevis is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Montana. A member of the editorial board for The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology, he is author of Borneo Log: The Struggle for Sarawak's Forest and Shorty Harris or The Price of Gold.
Ten Tough Trips FROM THE PUBLISHER
Ten Tough Trips is William W. Bevis's literary journey through the works of ten of the West's most prominent authors, including A. B. Guthrie, Jr., D'Arcy McNickle, James Welch, Richard Hugo, Ivan Doig, and Norman Maclean. In a series of lucid and witty essays originally assembled to complement the award-winning book The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology, Bevis deflates European myths of escape to a natural West beyond civilization and shows how Montana has developed its own voice, true to the complications and austerities of a splendid land. His chapters on Native American writers have been especially well received. Through sensitive and discerning analysis, Bevis shows how love of the land can become more enduring and haunting even as the myths are stripped away, and in a new afterword, he addresses the emergence of important women writers from 1990 to the present. Of particular note is his consideration of Mary Clearman Blew and her extraordinary memoir, All But the Waltz, which Bevis believes to be a pioneering work reflective of the postmodern West.
Art & Photography
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