Stegner’s writing marked by Prairie landscape
Writing about his upbringing in southwestern Saskatchewan, Wallace Stegner described not only the vast Prairie landscape, but himself as well.
“It is a country to breed mystical people, egocentric people, perhaps poetic people,” he wrote upon returning to the town of Eastend. “But not humble ones.”
Although not a braggart by any means, Stegner’s accomplishments spoke volumes. He wrote more than a dozen novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angle of Repose and The Spectator Bird, which earned him the National Book Award. He also won wide acclaim for his many works of non-fiction, especially Wolf Willow, his lyrical 1955 reflection on the years his family spent homesteading in the shadow of the Cypress Hills.
Although he only spent a few of his formative years in Saskatchewan — from the age of seven to 12 — the man widely considered the dean of North American western writers was profoundly affected by the place.
“There was never a country that in its good moments was more beautiful,” he wrote, debunking the commonly held notion of the “desolate” Prairie.
Stegner’s literary influence went well beyond his writing. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and Harvard before founding the creative writing program at Stanford, where he mentored such notables as Larry McMurtry, Thomas McGuane and Edward Abbey.
More than two decades since his death, Stegner’s legacy lives on in Eastend, where the local arts council has restored his family’s home as a residence for artists.