Feb 18, 2009 the angle of repose is my favorite book of all time. The angle of repose is the normal and natural angle that dirt, sand, gravel, stone, or other natural sitework material will take, if left to seek its own equilibrium. In order to do that, he plans on holing up in their old homedubbed the zodiac cottageand writing all day, every day. Susan wards lifeand lymans and shellys is the believable story of a flawed human beingits not picture perfectthere are no rosy endings for us here. The geologic term angle of repose, defines the angle of the slope at which debris will cease rolling downhill and settle in one place, as in a landslide. I was too young then to share it with her but knew it was on my must read list just by quietly watching her experience this remarkable book during one hot summer vacation. Everything you need to know about angle of repose movie. The controversy and snub that resulted from stegner using the letters seem a moot point to me when presented with such a beautiful novel. Stegners pulitzer prizewinning novel of personal, historical, and geographic discovery confined to a wheelchair, retired historian lyman ward sets out to write his grandparents remarkable story, chronicling their days spent carving civilization into the surface of americas western frontier. It also explains some of the controversy around the relationship between the fictional characters in the book, and the historical characters on whom they are based. The morphology of the material affects the angle of repose. A fellow writer suggested i read angle of repose by wallace stegner. He thought about the novel from 1957 to 1968 and wrote it during the next three years. It is a testament to the power of stegners prose and vision that angle of repose, winner of the 1972 pulitzer prize for fiction, can be appreciated as americas story as well.
Angle of repose, widely regarded as stegners masterpiece, was published in 1971. At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the verge of sliding. The angle of repose is my favorite book of all time. Click to read more about angle of repose by wallace stegner. A severely disabled wheelchair bound professor, whose marriage has failed, researches and writes the saga of his pioneer grandparents, a couple whose marriage lasted in spite of tremendous adversity and tragedy. On another thread a number of us thought we would like to discuss the book angle of repose by wallace stegner. Picking up angle of repose at the bookstore and reading the summary on the back, the story initially didnt really capture my imagination or interest me much there are other stegner novels id find immediately more interesting. Jul 06, 2018 it also explains some of the controversy around the relationship between the fictional characters in the book, and the historical characters on whom they are based. The dictionary tells us that an angle of repose means the steepest angle at which a sloping surface formed of a particular loose material is stable. Wallace stegner has said of his epic novel, its perfectly clear that if every writer is born to write one story, thats my story. It may deal with geopolitics, romance, horror, murder, or any other topic you can think of. Wallace stegners pultizer prizewinning novel is a story of dis. Wheelchairbound with a crippling bone disease and dependent on others for his every need.
Based on his research, lyman determines that oliver and susans youngest daughter, agnes, drowns in a canal after accompanying her mother on one of her trysts with frank. This is a blurb from one of the front pages of a penguin books publication of aor. Based on the correspondence of the littleknown 19th century writer, mary hallock foote. In a dust jacket, with agetoning, and four closed tears along the bottom edge, the deepest measuring 1. Angle of repose won the pulitzer prize for fiction in.
Stegners novel angle of repose won the pulitzer prize for fiction in 1972, and was directly based on the letters of mary hallock foote later published as the memoir a victorian gentlewoman in the far west. Stegners pulitzer prizewinning novel of personal, historical, and geographic discovery confined to a wheelchair, retired historian lyman. Angle of repose definition what does angle of repose. Zodiac cottage, grass valley, california, april 12, 1970. Oct 29, 2012 wallace stegners 19091993 masterpiece angle of repose 1971. There is a piffling controversy surrounding this books use of a victorian. Angles other great inspiration came from the history books. I believe i read it over 20 years ago and marveled at the character development. Angle of repose follows susan burling ward during the 19th century, but the essence is the evolving consciousness of susans grandson and the novels narrator, lyman ward. If an excavator is digging in a damp clay material, and there is a natural ability for the material to stand on its own, there. Angle of repose is a 1971 novel by wallace stegner about a wheelchairusing historian. But his research reveals even more about his own life than hes willing to admit.
But i will simply provide a brief synopsis of my impressions of the 3 main characters in angle of repose. Lyman is a retired amputee historian with a bone disease who becomes. Lyman, a retired historian, writes a history of his grandparents lives after his wife leaves him for his surgeon during his struggle. Angle of repose summary lyman ward is a wheelchairbound exhistorian whos diving into the most ambitious project of his life. Smooth, rounded sand grains cannot be piled as steeply as can rough. The controversy is somewhat tempered since stegner had received permission to use footes writings, implying as much in the books acknowledgments page. Angle of repose by wallace stegner posted in fiction, historical fiction by mmelland i have had good luck recently with reading older books not quite classics but noteworthy in there own time, still thoroughly enjoyable and without the long library hold times of. By the end of the novel, has lyman reached his own angle of repose. Angle of repose by wallace stegner is a pulitzer prize winning novel about marriage. Angle of repose won the pulitzer prize for fiction in 1972. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real. If an excavator is digging in a damp clay material, and there is a natural ability for the material to stand on its own, there could be a 90 degree. His collection of essays, where the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs 1992, was nominated for the national book critics circle award.
Mar 01, 1971 angle of repose is the pulitzerprize winning fictional work by wallace stegner awarded in 1972 that has become a contemporary classic. Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian lyman ward sets out to write his grandparents remarkable storyexploring through his grandmothers drawings, letters, and publications her life with her engineer husband and his struggle to use his talents in a time not quite ready for him. About the author 1971 in 1972, wallace earle stegner won a pulitzer prize for angle of repose 1971, a novel about a wheelchairbound mans recreation of his new england grandmothers experience in a late nineteenthcentury frontier town. Stegners use of uncredited passages taken directly from footes letters caused a minor controversy. It was considered by stegner to be the masterpiece of his literary career and substantial body of work. The angle of repose was on most of these lists and in my opinion it should be on all of them. Wallace stegners 19091993 masterpiece angle of repose 1971. This book is a masterpiece i think it is the best american novel i have yet read. I might have grabbed the pitchfork if stegner had plucked the text from one of his contemporaries and attempted to pass it off as his own, but surely some statute of limitations kicks in after a hundred years.
There is a minimum angle or maximum slope the sand will maintain due to the forces of gravity and the effect of friction between the particles of. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will. Angle of repose is wallace stegners pulitzer prize winning novel from. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. Even more of a surprise as i began reading angle of repose a copy which i unexpectedly found on my own shelves, was the marginalia throughout the book. Ultimately, i thought of the angle of repose as the place susan and oliver finally reached at the end of the book, stable and no longer moving, but not happy, either. So i started reading based solely on the reputation of the author and book not expecting much, except that is. Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors. One way to demonstrate this would be to pour sand from a bag to the ground. It is a general rule of thumb that you need to protect the soil below the foundation and out at 45 degrees to each side. Letters from stegner leading up to the publication of angle of repose and continuing until his death in 1993 suggest that the author knew the book might cause him trouble, especially after the. Angle of repose project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Plagiarism allegations aimed at stegners angle of repose wont be put. Mar 23, 2003 angle of repose, widely regarded as stegners masterpiece, was published in 1971.
Angle of repose by wallace stegner as the new year started, i began to think about the kinds of books i havent read much of and the idea of novels of the west started to take up my thoughts. Angle of repose is a commentary on marriage, what makes it work and what makes it fail. A lot of book clubs draw the line on reading books over fourhundred pages, so it was a bit of a surprise that stegners novel, all fivehundredplus pages, was voted in as our first read of 2019. In order to do that, he plans on holing up in their old homedubbed the zodiac. The angle of repose, or critical angle of repose, of a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be piled without slumping. My edition of angle of repose carried stegners brief note explaining that. This in partial contrast to and rebuttal of his son at berkeley interested in change but only as a process. After his book was published, a controversy brewed with some of.
When granular solids are piled on a flat surface, the sides of the pile are at a definite reproducible angle with the horizontal leveled surface fig. Angle of repose follows susan burling ward during the 19th century, but the. This angle is called the angle of repose of the material. Angle of repose by wallace stegner may 16 group fiction read shirley. Angle of repose by wallace stegner posted in fiction, historical fiction by mmelland i have had good luck recently with reading older books not quite classics but noteworthy in there own time, still thoroughly enjoyable and without the long library hold times of recent releases bonus. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Stegner acknowledged using the letters, and openly stated he had the permission of the descendant that turned the letters over to him to do so. Angle of repose ends in the strangest and most unexpected way possible first, we witness the sad end of the susanfrank affair. Fradkin is the author of 11 books about the american west.
The controversy is somewhat tempered since stegner had received permission to use footes writings, implying as much in the books. Among his many literary prizes are the pulitzer prize for angle of repose 1971 and the national book award forthe spectator bird 1976. Jul 22, 2016 after his book was published, a controversy brewed with some of footes descendants about how stegner went about this merging of fact and fiction and his use of footes letters. A book is generally a fast paced and entertaining story. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers.
Angle of repose wallace stegner, 1971 penguin group usa 392 pp. But susan and lyman ward are too alert to the possible figurative, human possibilities of the phrase to allow it to be a mere descriptive term. Angle of repose wallace stegner tonight i can sit here with the tape recorder whirring no more noisily than electrified time, and say into the microphone the place and date of a sort of beginning and a sort of return. As an easterner who has lived in seattle for 25 years i too am aware of americas split personality of socalled east. Wallace stegner described angle of repose as a novel about time, as much as anythingabout people who live through time, who believe in both a past and a future. Stegners method of weaving the stories together works marvelously and so many of his sentences are simply perfect. The novel came out, it won the pulitzer, and then this little controversy. Angle of repose by wallace stegner, paperback barnes. The angle of repose, red lines, show distinctly the critical area in which you must not dig or tunnel. Then theres the controversy about stegners use of mary hallock foote.
When it was published in 1970, wallace stegners angle of repose must have seemed like a contemporary novel and a historical novel wrapped into one, with hippies and miniskirts on one page and. Angle of repose is another important physical property used for characterization of the bulk of particulate foods such as seeds, grains, flours, grits, and fruits. After the novel won the pulitzer in 1972, it was mentioned by the new york times, but they managed to get wallaces name wrong, calling him william. A late autumn retrospective, accomplished with a long lens, in which lyman ward, retired, ill and wheelchairbound, attempts to affirm the continuity of the past and the doppler effect of time by reconstructing his grandparents lives. Feb 03, 2008 these are examples of the type of borrowing, plagiarism, literary theft or infringement take your pick that occur in wallace stegners angle of repose, which received the. Angle of repose, which won, in 1972, the pulitzer prize for wallace stegner, unites past and present in telling two stories. There is a huge difference between a book and a novel. After his book was published, a controversy brewed with some of footes descendants about how stegner went about this merging of fact and fiction and his use of footes letters. Approximately 10% of the novel is taken from footes letters a total of. Why do you think stegner chose this term for the title of his novel.
Pulitzer 1972 explores the marriage relationships of susan and oliver ward and lyman and ellen ward and the freelove relationship of shelly rasmussen and larry. But then i got to the last 14 of the book and it seemed rushed, unfinished, and i turned the last page not fully understanding what really happened between oliver and susan ward. Angle of repose definition what does angle of repose mean. Being a native of the american west, it is difficult to appreciate what makes it different from the rest of the country. Lyman wards history of his grandparents and his need to keep his. We plan to begin the discussion on monday october 27th. Angle of repose by wallace stegner d a l l a s r o.
The angle of repose or the critical angle of repose, 1 of a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be piled without slumping. Wallace earle stegner february 18, 1909 april, 1993 was an american novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called the dean of western writers. When i learned about the foote controversy after reading angle of repose, i was surprised to find myself defending stegner. Angle of repose by wallace stegner book club discussion. When i learned about the foote controversy after reading angle of repose, i was. But susan and lyman ward are too alert to the possible figurative, human possibilities of the phrase to allow it to be a mere descriptive term for detrital rest. The angle of repose is the minimum angle at which any piledup bulky or loose material will stand without falling downhill. The term angle of repose is a geologic one which means the slope angle, about 30 degrees, at which dirt and pebbles stop rolling. Author wallace stegner published the novel angle of repose in 1972. Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian lyman ward sets out to write his grandparents remarkable story, chronicling their days spent ca.
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