Mary Austin and the American West

Susan Goodman; Carl Dawson

Published by University of California Press 2008

Mary Austin and the American West

Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520942264

Overview
Contents

About this book

Mary Austin (1868-1934)—eccentric, independent, and unstoppable—was twenty years old when her mother moved the family west. Austin's first look at her new home, glimpsed from California's Tejon Pass, reset the course of her life, "changed her horizons and marked the beginning of her understanding, not only about who she was, but where she needed to be." At a time when Frederick Jackson Turner had announced the closing of the frontier, Mary Austin became the voice of the American West. In 1903, she published her first book, The Land of Little Rain, a wholly original look at the West's desert and its ethnically diverse peoples. Defined in a sense by the places she lived, Austin also defined the places themselves, whether Bishop, in the Sierra Nevada, Carmel, with its itinerant community of western writers, or Santa Fe, where she lived the last ten years of her life. By the time of her death in 1934, Austin had published over thirty books and counted as friends the leading literary and artistic lights of her day.

In this rich new biography, Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson explore Austin's life and achievement with unprecedented resonance, depth, and understanding. By focusing on one extraordinary woman's life, Mary Austin and the American West tells the larger story of the emerging importance of California and the Southwest to the American consciousness.

Author / Editor information

Goodman Susan :

Susan Goodman is the H. Fletcher Brown Chair of Humanities Professor of English at the University of Delaware. Carl Dawson is Professor of English at the University of Delaware. Goodman and Dawson are the coauthors of William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life (UC Press).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Chronology of Mary Austin’s life and work Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
1. Desert Places 1868–1892 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Owens Valley: 1892–1900 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. Independence: 1900–1905 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
4. Carmel: 1904–1907 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
5. In Italy and England: 1907–1910 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
6. New York: 1911–1914 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
7. The Village: 1914–1920 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
8. The Call of the West: 1920–1924 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
9. Santa Fe: 1924–1929 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
10. Indian Detours and Spanish Arts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
11. Last Years: 1929–1934 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
12. The Accounting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 344

eBook

Published: January 7, 2009
ISBN: 9780520942264