Book: The Angle of Repose
Basic Information :
Synopsis :
Characters :
Thoughts :
Evaluation :
Book Group :
New Words :
Book References :
Good Quotes :
Table of Contents :
References
Basic Information:
Author: Wallace Stegner
Edition: eBook from Fresno
County Public Library
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780140169300
Read: April 17, 2018
569 pages
Genre: Fiction,
Fiction-History,
Language Warning: Medium due
to both a few words, some semi-graphic scenes, as well as words and
phrases which these days would not be politically correct.
Rated Overall: 4½ out of 5
Fiction-Tells a good story: 4
out of 5
Fiction-Character development:
5 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
There are two stories running
side by side. The first takes place in 1970. It concerns Professor
Lyman Ward, professor emeritus of history at UC Berkeley. Lyman
recently had his leg amputated and is living alone in Grass Valley at
his grandparents house. At the same time, his ex-wife divorced
him.He gets interested in writing the history of his grandparents
with the assistance of a UC Berkeley flower child. Lyman’s grandson
would like to put him into a rest home for his safety. Lyman is
fighting this. So there is the tension with him wanting to stay
independent, the difference in generations with his assistance, as
well his emotional struggles about his ex-wife.
The second story is the
history Lyman Ward is writing about his grandparents, Oliver and
Susan Ward. Oliver is an engineer, mostly for mining in the West, but
he has had a wide variety of experience. While Susan is raised in a
more cultured house, with friends who will become part of literary
elite. Susan also is an artist and writer. When they marry, Susan
moves to New Almaden, near San Jose. where Oliver works as a mine
engineer.
When in New Almaden, Oliver
establishes a reputation of trustworthiness, honor and integrity. He
resigns rather than carry out an immoral order. Susan goes to Santa
Cruz while Oliver goes to San Francisco to look for a job. As he is
looking, he figures out how to make cement. He does not patent this
process and others get rich off of his work. Finds some work in
Deadwood while Susan returns back to her parents home.
Eventually Oliver takes on a
job in Leadville, CO and brings Susan back to him there. Here he
finds his place and is ready to make the mine viable. Also several
historic people come through Leadville as this is the center of
mining in Colorado, if not the United States is. Susan feels at home
being the cultural center. Frank becomes Oliver’s right-hand man
while Susan finds that he is cultured and well read. But a conflict
with another mine operations and the backers of the mine, forces
Oliver’s mine to be shutdown.
From Leadville, he goes to
Michoacan, Mexico to investigate reopening a mine. While there, Susan
falls in love with the culture. But the mine Oliver is hired to
investigate is a bust and he tells his bosses that. His reputation
for honesty gains, but it does not translate into a job. This leads
to a separation where Susan returns to her hometown. But unbeknown to
Oliver, she is pregnant. It is only after the girl is born, does she
tell him. He comes rushing back from Idaho when he finds out.
Then there is the time in
Idaho where Oliver is planning on irrigating the Idaho plateau. He
only needs backers to make the plan work. For a good third of the
book, it tells of this time. It is also the time when Susan feels
the most alone and vulnerable. After years and years and years in
Idaho, Oliver’s plans finally folds, leading to separation in their
marriage. But not before Susan’s emotions towards Frank have
exploded. Also one of their children drown while Susan was watching
them. Susan returns to her hometown again. There she realizes what
she has lost and returns to Idaho to await Oliver’s return. Oliver
is wandering the West, looking for work. Here their story ends and
Lyman picks up a few threads from his memories.
Cast of Characters:
-
Lyman Ward-Narrator. Legs have
been amputated. Body is immobile. Grandson of Oliver and Susan Ward.
-
Rodman Ward-Grandson of Lyman
Ward
-
Ada-Nurse for Lyman
-
Shelly-Ada’s daughter who is
separated from her “husband”. But goes to UC Berkeley. She is
filled with the jargon which went on in Berkeley during the 70’s.
-
Susan Burling Ward-grandmother
of Lyman Ward and wife of Oliver Ward. Artist and author
-
Oliver Ward-grandfather of
Lyman Ward and husband of Susan Ward. Mining and Irrigation.
engineer.Based upon the engineer Arthur
De Wint Foote.
He was a master engineer in his own right with several places named
after him in California.
-
Augusta Hudson-close friend,
maybe lover, of Susan Burling Ward
-
Thomas Hudson-fictional
character, married Augusta Hudson, instead of Susan Burling.
-
Frank Sargent-son of General
Sargent. He is Oliver Ward’s primary assistant through most of his
stops in the West. Susan Ward’s one bit of civilization.
Eventually, there is a bit of romantic tension with the two of them.
-
Wiley-another assistant to
Oliver
-
Pricey-an Englishman who
Oliver feels is incompetent, but serves as his clerk. Later on, in
defending the mind is is beaten senseless and can no longer function
by himself. After trying to take care of him, Oliver has to send him
to his family in England.
-
Augusta Hudson-close friend,
maybe lover of Susan Burling Ward
-
Conrad Prager-Oliver Ward’s
brother-in-law, married to his sister.
-
Henry Janin: Well known and
expensive mining expert. But was caught up in a large fraud where he
personally did not do a dig, but allowed others to do it,
Several members of the Whitney
Survey of California play into the book:
-
William Ashburner: William
Ashburner, whose European education in mining proved useful in the
mineral aspects of the Survey. He became one of the original group to
be appointed Commissioners to Manage the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa
Big Tree Grove. See the book, Up
and Down California
by William H Brewer.
-
Clarence King: Names Mt
Whitney. First head the US Geological Survey. See the book, Up
and Down California
by William H Brewer.
Thoughts:
I usually do not post pictures in my book blog, except for the book cover. But while I was putting my thoughts about
The Angle of Repose together, a Jon Anderson
posted several picture he took of Grass Valley in the Facebook group,
Explorers of the Old West. Many of these pictures where from the North Star Mine or the North Star House which the Foote's were very involved with. Jon Anderson has kindly granted permission to post a few of his pictures in my blog.
 |
| Mining car from North Star Mine Photographer-Jon Anderson |
 |
| Stamper Photographer-Jon Anderson |
 |
| Foote's 30' Pelton Wheel Photographer-Jon Anderson |
 |
| The Pelton Wheel was inside the building. Photographer-Jon Anderson |
Introduction
Stegner’s goal was to
interprenetrate the
past and the present.
Stegner worked mostly in the
third person until now. Be he found that he would bridge
the past to a present. It also allows you to drop back and forth,
almost at will,
Main character is really Mary
Hallock Foote, with her husband, Arthur DeWint Foote.
The Foote family felt that
Stegner’s book was pretty much Foote’s letters with Stegner’s
words wrapped around them.
Probably the chief study of
this book is how Oliver Ward gradually lost his love and devotion to
his wife. It shows how he was quietly devoted to her, willing to
sacrifice for her. But as time goes on, he becomes more reserved.
This drives his wife further away from him. But what starts this
wedge? Was it the foreignness of living in the West when you are a
refined Eastener? Is it that he was devoted to his work as much as he
was devoted to her? Was it her sense of superiority? Her lack of
emotional response?
Grass Valley
Chapter One
Lyman Ward is fighting to keep
in his family home in Grass Valley. His grandson feels he would be
better off in a nice rest home in Menlo Park. Lyman thinks about will
a computer decide his fate? Is this Stegner’s fight against
automatic decisions?
Lyman is also of feeling like
he is just marking time. HIs body is stiff and non-responsive, but
his mind is still active. He is writing a book about his grandmother,
Susan Ward (Mary Foote).
Written in the 1970 timeframe
with Lyman in Grass Valley, his family house which his grandfather
and grandmother built. This is a real house called North Star House.
What does it mean to live life
chronologically vs
life existentially?
Term angle
of repose is too
good of a term to apply to dirt, but to also the human condition.
Stegner also talks about how the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the
Doppler Effect have been applied to the human condition.
Who was Henry Adams? Stegner
keeps referring to him. In
his lifetime, he was best known for his History of the United States
During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a
9-volume work, praised for its literary style. His posthumously
published memoirs, The Education of Henry Adams, won the Pulitzer
Prize and went on to be named by the Modern Library as the top
English-language nonfiction book of the 20th century.
From Wikipedia
Rodman finds the history of
people boring. He wants to know the now about them. While Lyman wants
to understand his predecessors so that he can put his own life and
times into context.
Phrase: giving
up vivacity for resignation
Interesting.
Chapter Two
Don’t scorn the substitutes
of one’s youth, such as quiet, time and purpose.
At times Susan Ward, before
she was married has from her letters a close to lesbian relationship
with her friend Augusta. Augusta eventually married the man whom both
were interested in, who later became the editor of the Century
magazine.
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Susan looking down over the
side of a waterfall with Oliver hanging onto her feet-they were not
married yet. Yet she felt secure. Stegner draws the comparison that
around the same time john Muir was hanging down, looking over the
side of Yosemite Falls.
Stegner notes that meeting
Oliver Ward was the first time Susan Burling was attracted to a man
physically and she let her emotions lead her. There was a commitment
for marriage. But first Oliver had to find the right job-one with a
future, rather than a dead-end.
Chapter Six
Early on, it becomes evident
that Susan Ward has a bit of an edge on her. She writes to a friend
about some issues she had with her new husband. But in the same
letters, she is private about the intimate details of their lives.
You get the hint that she is someone who enjoys more the wildness of
things, but needs to live with the finery of her previous life.
There was the issue of train
fare to meet Oliver. He did not send any to his new wife to join him
at New Almaden. This picked at Susan’s imagination. [Turns out that
he had the train fare, but then his boss pulled a fast one on him and
made him pay for renovations to the company house.]
Chapter Seven
Towns are like people. Old
ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.
Evidently he is not talking about age, but thought. He says that
Nevada City is changing from an old town to a new one.
New Almaden
Chapter One
Nice description of the area
around New Almaden, including Loma Prieta
Chapter Two
Three things which caught my
attention on a single page: what is a charivari? Second, Stegner is
setting up Susan to being pretty much above the class of people,
particularly females, she will come to be in association with.
Thirdly, Oliver restricted her to going certain places-it is out of
her safety. I just cannot see a modern woman thinking in terms of
restrictions.
There are another key things
said later on in this chapter. When there is nothing to show how
different we are, we lose our individuality. Once Susan was married,
she started taking Oliver for granted-she assumed he would always be
there. Lastly Susan in a prelude to the rest of the book, where Susan
turns from happiness of being with Oliver to being depressed by her
surroundings and lack of civilization.
Chapter Three
Susan thinks that the
people here were not people.
This is very much what happens when people do not meet our
expectations. Also when they continue to be strangers. Otherwise they
become a non-entity, invisible to us, things to ignore. Also they
become untouchable. Such as when a person is to be paid but is too
far away, he tosses his bandana to her to put the money in. Her
instinct is to catch it, but she lets it drop and have her servant
pick it up and put money in it so Susan does not have to touch it.
And then it is easy to be
condescending to people. Such as they should be grateful for any
small thing we do for them. Giving a throwaway picture to a peasant,
smiling and thinking you have made a friend.
In this line, Susan is ashamed
of her husband because he does not match up to a refined guest.
Oliver does not take part in a conversation of culture. Also Susan
notices that he has not washed his hands either from working all day
in the mine.
Chapter Four
During the time at New
Almaden, Susan realizes that she could not have been happier than
with Oliver. She was two years older than him and sometimes bossed
him around.
Wonder what Stegner thought
about movements? He sort of thinks there are some people who seem to
go in for any thing different than the normal. There is a person who
comes in from Santa Cruz who has gone through a series of these:
Abolition, Woman’s Suffrage, Spiritualism, and Phrenology.
Stegner humor: Totally
humorless, she made them collapse in laughter.
This lady from Santa Cruz was one of those people who knew everything
about everything and told people that.
Three American gospels: Work,
Progress, and Inviolability of Contract.
Chapter Seven
Management through fear-firing
those who disagree with you or who will not suffer your abuse. Why
didn’t people strike? Mine unions were not powerful in those days.
Management had the upper hand. IWW (Wobblies) were 50 years away.
Retaliation severe enough that a fired man’s house was dismantled.
Susan says that she was glad
when Oliver resigned from the New Almaden mine when the working
conditions became intolerable. She would not respect him if he had
not.
There is such a thing as
honor. Honor was not lost on Oliver.
Things have changed-Oliver
would not let Susan use her money to keep them together. Is that
right?
Home is a notion that only
the nations of the homeless fully appreciate and only the uprooted
comprehend.
Santa Cruz
Chapter One
Lyman Ward’s help, Shelly,
is a modern woman who has shed her inhibitions. As such, there are
times she sees nothing that should be held back. Shelly is amused by
the story of Susan Ward and things that they should have told more
about their personal lives. While Lyman Ward is not of the set of,
isn’t there
anything sacred? He
does think that there are things which are OK not to have explored in
his grandmother’s letters and writings. The difference between
private and frankness.
Humor once again with Lyman
Ward being bathed by his nurse and friend, then being physically
lifted into bed. Shelly, the nurse’s daughter sees what is
happening and smirks with a “knowingness” of what is happening.
Chapter Two
Entirely competent. Plenty
of people would give a lot for those two words from those two men.
These days, one has to excelled to be someone. Yet hasn’t that
replaced the level of competent?
Once doubts about a person
comes into a mind, no matter what the source, it is very hard to get
rid of them.
This chapter talks about the
decision to go to South America or not and be supervisor of a mine
there.
Chapter Three
What is hydraulic cement? How
is that different from “normal” cement? This is interesting to
me since my father used to work for Permanente Cement. Later on this
was mentioned.
(e.g., Portland cement) set and become adhesive due to a chemical
reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction
results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble and so
are quite durable in water and safe from chemical attack. This allows
setting in wet conditions or under water and further protects the
hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for
hydraulic cement found by ancient Romans used volcanic ash
(pozzolana) with added lime (calcium oxide).
From Wikipedia
Chapter Four
Mrs Elliot, the Santa Cruz
busy body, which is where Susan is living now, gives advice unasked
for. But in some ways she correctly analysis Oliver-Let
him find a job where he can build things.
What she does not understand is that he also has a mind which figures
things out. In this case, he figured out how to make hydraulic
cement. She goes on and talks about how Oliver should be let loose to
pursue his South American dream. Susan is hesitant.
This same person a few
chapters ago was introduced to use as a Woman’s Suffrage
campaigner. Now is advocating that Susan sacrifice herself. How does
Mrs Elliot reconcile this?
Chapter Five
Today, immigration is still an
issue. American workers are concerned that foreigners are taking
their jobs. The same concerns were true in the late 1800’s with
Asians taking American jobs. Not much has changed any.
Chapter Six
Stenger says the idea of
getting rich with cement was Susan’s idea, not Olivers. But
whosoever idea it was, Oliver was careless with the formula and
others figured it out from his work. Stegner says, The
West would be in good part built and some think ruined by that
cement. Many would grow rich out of it. Decades later, over the
mountain at Permanente, not too far from New Almaden, Henry Kaiser
would make a very good thing indeed out of the argillaceous and
calcareous that Oliver Ward forced into an insoluble marriage in the
winter of 1877.
This passage struck home to me. My Dad worked at Permanent after
World War II until he retired.
Would Oliver Ward have been
tempted to be a small-town millionaire? Would he have been like
George Hearst? The one thing which Oliver Ward had was character. He
was an honest man. Trust was part of him. He was a builder, not a
raider.
Chapter Seven
Is Lyman Ward trying to
recapture his youth by going back to his grandparents house? He
reminisces about spending his summers there. Or maybe he is just
trying to keep out of a convalescent home. By being in Grass Valley,
out of the way, he is keeping himself busy writing his grandmothers
memoir. Lyman Ward fights against giving up.
Do we really e
deserve the people we marry?
A good description of the mind
of his grandfather, keeping him together-passion, integrity, culture,
convention, …
Leadville
Chapter One
Who is F. Jay Haynes? Is there
any of his stereoscopic views around? See Wikipedia
for a biography. The
Getty
has some pictures.
In this chapter Lyman Ward
defines why he is writing his book. It is about the marriage of his
grandparents, not a biography of them.
Chapter Two
There is a scene in this
chapter where Susan has just arrived in Leadville. Oliver makes an
off-hand comment about a claim jumper claiming Oliver’s lot for
himself. Susan is already to go and reek havoc on the guy-she also
finds out that there is a bit of lawlessness in the old West. Oliver
instead, finds a better claim and takes that as his claim. Susan says
about Oliver: You
let yourself be imposed on and cheated, and you don’t seem to care.
Oliver’s response is that I
don’t like trouble, not about anything that small. I’ve got too
ugly a temper when I do get mad, so I try not to get mad.
Oliver lets himself get taken advantage of. He does this over and
over and over again. But it seems like he comes out ahead in the long
run. Susan on the other hand feels this in her soul. (By the way, in
the next chapter, the person who claim jumped was hung.) Except when
they are in Idaho and Oliver gets taken advantage of to the determent
of Susan’s sister.
Later on in the chapter,
Oliver meets a stage coming right at them in a too narrow place where
the stage would have run them over. She realizes that it
was his physical readiness, his unflusterable
Kenosha
Pass-this
is on the continental divide above Fairplay. The Platte River runs to
the east. I have skied a couple of miles south of this pass.
Mosquito Pass and South Park:
More places I have skied. The modern road over this 13,208’ pass is
listed as one of the
most dangerous roads
in America.
Interesting that Stegner uses
the word taciturnity to describe Oliver’s driving of the horses.
The silence he has while doing a task, like he will give his whole
being to it. On the other hand, as the book goes on, this is a point
which Oliver takes with abundance. At the end of the chapter, Lyman
says that He never
did less than the best he knew how. If that was not enough, if he
felt criticism in the air, he put on his hat and walked out.
The phrase, This
is so wild and beautiful. I like it ever so much better. [than
New Almaden] Just the wild and beautiful phrase says it all.
Susan also gets a tint of
religion in her writings: …
all such incidences of the lower world they
[the trees] leave
behind them when they begin to strip for the skies; like the Holy
Ones of old, they go up alone and barren of all circumstances to meet
their transfiguration.
.
Do you want romance or
realism? We side on realism too much today without letting romance
come through. Susan in reference to when they came down Mosquito Pass
says Oliver paid for
both [dead horses
which died because of the trip to pick her up]
and how much more the trip cost him (both trips) I never knew. But
that is the price of Romance. To have allowed his wife to come in by
stage in company with drunkenness and vice would have been realism.
Chapter Three
A phrase from Susan-gave
forgiveness. You
cannot take forgiveness only give and receive it.
The altitude does peculiar
things to people.
This is Stegner’s comment. And it is true-a prolonged period in the
high Sierra’s will cause certain loss of brain cells for awhile.
Also an immediate climb will cause the brain to swell.
Chapter Four
In Leadville, there was a
gradual realization that Susan could trust Oliver. Not from big
heroics, but from everyday actions, such as getting water from a
creek or bringing in firewood. But most importantly, taking care of
her.
Best hour of the day-when
Susan was waking up and Oliver had finished his morning chores.
Susan realizes during her time
in Leadville, the power a woman has over a man. She also realizes the
type of woman who would exercise that power.
Pricey, the bookworm. Nothing
disturbs him when he is reading. He can even read while riding a
mule.
Social life in Leadville grows
when the US Geological Survey party arrive in Leadville. Oliver is
friends with many and becomes friends with all. Their cabin is the
hub of social life. This included Prager, Clarence King, Samuel
Emmons, and Henry Jarin.
Also Helen Hunt Jackson joins
there group. Susan realizes that if Helen Hunt can continue being a
person with the name Jackson added, then Susan can continue to be a
person with the name Ward appended to her Susan Burling.
Chapter Five
Stegner raises the question of
when men of business and men of government are friends, how do you
keep their friendship and duties separate? So the dealings are fair?
There is the natural temptation to help your friends and share
information. Or worse yet, to benefit from such information. Stegner
puts into King’s mouth the questions, How
does one guarantee the probity of government science?
Then King answers his own question, You
pick men you would trust with your life and you trust them with the
Public Domain.
Stegner goes on and talks
about how Congress will seize upon a report, touting its benefits,
but ignoring its recommendations.
Oliver is not a “talker”.
Susan asks how will people know how good he is if he does not talk
about his achievements or at least talk to let people know how
intelligent he is? But the men whom Oliver associates with
understands results and character. This is more important. Oliver
when he does speak, forces the answer to an important question.
Chapter Six
Stegner points out that
marriages used to last till death do you part. With sexual
liberation, it now lasts a pretty short period of time. There is a
discussion with Shelly, Lyman’s temp worker, about sexual
inhibitions. She thinks he is hiding things in Susan’s life. He
does not care to put more on record than what Susan wanted to be
told. Shelly says that this shows Lyman’s inhibitions than Susan’s.
Lyman notes that even if the
reader wanted to read something sexual into a story, don’t they
have the imagination to make it happen in their minds rather than
have the author say it?
Also Stegner is not a fan of
discussions which let everything out in the open. I think he is more
in tune with Chesterton where he prefers something in reserve for a
person’s character.
Oliver takes over the Adelaide
mine rather than sign on with the US Geological Survey. This way, he
would provide stability for his wife and incoming child.
Chapter Seven
Stegner says that Ulysses
S Grant Jr had
no consequence. Except, he did. He was one of the people who was
involved with getting Balboa Park in San Diego built. Also Stegner
introduces a character, Ferd Ward who is a relative of Oliver. Ferd
Ward is
a real person who did lead the Grants to financial ruin.
Chapter Eight
Susan that it
...a deficiency in herself that her imagination was so controlled by
things. This is
interesting to me since she is an artist and I would have thought
being creative by nature would have had her maybe starting with the
concrete, but moving out of concrete to something beyond the touch
and feel.
Mentions the Argentine mine.
have skied, not to the pass, but on both side of Argentine Pass.
Cold, cold, cold area. But this seems to be far away from Leadville.
Wonder if there is another place they are talking about.
Chapter Ten
Ollie, the son, is sick. Susan
will not leave his side and consequently grows sick as well, but not
with malaria, but with anxiety.
Michoacan
Chapter One
Lyman Ward is 58 in 1970,
which puts him born in 1912
Whatever happened in Idaho,
Susan Ward never recovered from it. She tried to make Lyman what she
was hoping her own son would be like. But maybe in a quieted, less
forceful way, with less emotion.
Lyman talks about how his
grandmother harbored a conviction that she gave up something to marry
Oliver Ward. She would have grown more as an artist. This was the
day before women for liberated. So it is hard to say if she would
have met anyone who could have shown her the way to be a fulfilled
woman. He then makes the exception of Mary Cassatt, whom he felt
could have shown her how to be a woman
artist.
She had a heart as well as
an eye. This is in
reference to when they went to Michoacan. She was able to observe the
life down there, not only with her emotions, but able to see the
artistry of possibility there.
Chapter Two
Enrique, mi alma = Enrique, my
soul
What is Stegner saying by
having the how courtyard saying this?
Chapter Three
What kind of authority is
there? What is the preferable kind? Several are listed:
-
money power
-
sensibility and probity
-
rigor
-
savoir faire
-
promptness in crisis
Susan felt that a figure in
Mexico exhibit more authority than all the rest in how he got
together a a caravan to visit a mine a couple of weeks away. She
thinks of him as a ringmaster.
Susan realizes that first,
Oliver could never be like the people she met in Mexico. Neither did
she want him to pretend to be. She says that He
could not have been pompous… without laughing. He had to be
himself-nothing spectacular, nothing gorgeous or picturesque.
Is there anything more that we can be besides ourselves?
Chapter Four
Respectability is a burden
perhaps greater than I want to bear.
Susan wanted to go for a walk in the coolness of the evening. But the
custom there would be only for those who were pursuing a man. So she
was forced into a carriage with the curtain drawn. No coolness, no
relief.
On the Bough
Chapter Two
Susan had moved back to Milton
and found out that she was pregnant. But she did not tell Oliver that
she was as he was out on a contract at a mine, even though she wrote
him about other things. When Oliver finds out that she has given
birth to a daughter, he rushes back home and is glad to meet his new
daughter. But also is very upset with Susan for not telling him. She
understands his right to being upset, but also resents it as well.
Susan is taking her place with
not being honest with Oliver. Oliver has a big project he is planning
in Idaho. But Susan can only see it as the end of the world. But she
does not let him know this. Instead she finds things which she says
are reasons they should not go. Some of them centers on having a
family now an concerned with them growing up as savages. The decision
comes down to that she gives up rather than it being a mutual
decision. This will come back as resentment about how Oliver forced
her to go to Idaho.
The Canyon
Chapter One
It is one of the
compensations of being a pioneer that one may see it wild and
unbroken. To do
this, there is a cost, a large cost. Wonder if I would be up to the
challenge?
In describing a place called
Kuna, Stegner says:
It is a place where silence
closes about you after the bustle of the train, where a soft dry wind
from great distances hums through the telephone wires and a stage
road goes out of sight in one direction and a new railroad track in
another. There is not a tree, nothing but sage. As moonlight unto
sunlight is that desert sage to other greens. The wind has magic in
it, and the air is full of birds and birdsong.
This may be Stegner’s best
piece of writing in the book. At least for me, I can imagine myself
being in Kuna and experiencing the sense of quiet desolation a town
like that must have had.
Chapter Two
I would rather be
picturesquely uncomfortable than comfortably dull.
Does this change as this living goes on year after year? Yes, but
later on this is where Susan’s mind goes to.
Chapter Three
What a description-speaking of
Oliver, Stegner says that he was on pioneer time-He
met trains that had not yet arrived. He waited on platforms that
hadn’t yet been built, …
A very good way to say that Oliver was ahead of his time. Also a way
of saying that if the world is not ready for your ideas, then it is
better to hold off on trying to implement them. Oliver spent a long
time doing that-waiting to get enough backing to make it happen-it
did not happen under Oliver’s watch.
Oliver and Susans were makers
and doers, not ones who tried to be rich quick. They choose success
and poverty over riches and failure.
According to Stegner, everyone
should have the experience of building their own house out of the
materials laying around.
Chapter Four
Lyman Ward recognizes that he
is using his grandmother’s life so that he can ignore his own.
Lyman recognizes that it
is an easy mistake to think that non-talkers are non-feelers.
[or for that matters, non-thinkers.] He says this in relationship to
his own father who seldom spoke. But it was also true of his own
grandfather. Sometimes the feelings are just buried. He felt his
grandmother did not not understand his father’s emotions. This
contributed to his inward looking, not being able to express himself.
On the other hand, his
grandfather knew some of his father’s inner feelings and how to
build him up. Instead of scolding him when he did something something
dangerous, but in response to a crisis, Oliver told him how proud he
was.
Chapter Five
1970 knows nothing about
isolation and nothing about silence.
Stegner goes on talking about what breaks silence in our lives.
Stegner I think only is thinking of human sounds. But even today,
you can go places where only the sound of birds and the rushing water
is heard.
It is in this chapter which
two things happen. First, Oliver gets rejected again for funding.
This leads to depression. Then Oliver turns to drink. This turns
Susan against him in disgust. It affects her relationship with Oliver
for the rest of the book.
Chapter Six
Lyman noted that Oliver worked
out his stress by physical work. He worked around his place, insisted
of getting mad at his wife or kids.
Through Susan’s letters,
Lyman sees his Grandparents love get corroded, losing the cement
which bound them together. Maybe unmet expectations; maybe lack of
success; maybe there was too much difference between the two too
bridge.
Chapter Seven
Stegner makes through Lyman
is that Oliver was easy to cheat and trusted people. Does trust and
cheating go together? Is Reagan’s true? (That is, Trust but
verify.) Steven Covey wrote a book called The
Speed of Trust
which basically said that the more you trust people, the faster
things get done. But where that book lacked, I thought, was how to
do you get to the place where you can trust someone? Or do you go in
trusting and then get hurt? On the other hand, Oliver invoked trust
in his grandson, enough so his assistant could tell even after Oliver
had been dead 35 years. So no great answers in this blog or in this
book.
Stegner uses the term, afro
in the woodpile.
Which is more politically correct than the original was according to
Wikipedia.
The current phrase is “skeletons in the woodpile.” This actually
comes from trying to smuggle blacks to safety during the safety era.
I wonder about all of this going back and correcting something which
was appropriate in another age, but is in appropriate today. What
will we think is inappropriate in 40 years?
Also, Stegner brings in
Lyman’s ex-wife. She cheated on him by going off with Lyman’s
surgeon. Stegner now starts to build up this character. As Lyman
ponders his relation with his wife, he realizes that she had other
needs than just the sedate role of being the wife of an academic. He
senses that much of his grandson’s desire to put him into a rest
home may be coming from his ex-wife. Also Rodman has started talking
to him about forgiving her. But that only started when his ex-wife’s
lover killed himself.
What really bugs Lyman about
Ellen, his ex-wife, is that she left him when he was most helpless.
Not because of an arguement, or any direct feelings of hurt, but
because he was not able to defend himself.
But this talk also makes Lyman
think about himself. He says that like the other males in his family,
he is into justice, not mercy. His thinking is that if justice is
served, there is no need for mercy. While not wanting the eye for an
eye kind of justice, neither is he willing to let go of his grudge
either, not that I blame him. But he does make that statement about
justice served. Isn’t when justice is served, that mercy is also
needed? Yes a person’s actions should have consequences, but then
again, we do enough wrong, that if all of our actions are accounted
for, we would be dead and probably dead as a species. That is where
the administration of mercy comes in. How to do it, not to avoid
consequences, but to remedy the situation. That is the key.
Lyman also recognizes that
his grandmother Susan was someone who carried a grudge against
Oliver. He draws, not a parallel, but something which is tangential
in her grudge. I think he sees a certain similarities of personality.
It is easier to die than
move, at least on the Other Side you don’t need trunks.
And then Stegner talks about
death. Susan was well acquainted with it. If they were going to have
chicken for dinner, she would be the one who killed it. When their
baby died, she and her family needed to take care of the
arrangements. There was no “death” industry in those days.
Stegner says that Susan was well acquainted with animal pain. This
lead to much more honesty in relationships. Also more definite
boundaries, but in some ways more forgiveness when those boundaries
were crossed.
Susan felt this time was the
most wasted time of their lives.
The Mesa
Chapter One
One of the trust items is that
Oliver had a lawyer file a claim for Susan’s sister on a land.
Oliver trusted that he did it. A source of separation with Susan is
that the lawyer did not and filed one for himself. Susan blamed
Oliver for this and for the swindle the man had done to her sister.
Oliver shows his love by his
actions. Between the Canyon house and the Mesa, Susan has gone back
to Milton to live with her family. When Susan finally comes back,
Oliver has a house ready on the Mesa. He has planted a lane of trees
as a sign and promise of better things to come.
Chapter Two
Lyman talks about loss of
friends-some left out of embarrassment, others because of the
divorce. He is lonely, but is stubborn enough not to have that over
take his life.
Bancroft’s advice to
historians: present
your subject in his own terms, judge him in yours.
I think I alluded to this earlier. But this is said better.
Chapter Three
This line is what the book is
about: Life
everything here, it is large and raw. it is for the future, it
sacrifices the present for what is to come.
Stegner goes on and says that when it matures, it [the house, the
area, the future] will be charming. But now all seems to be hopeless.
This sense of hopelessness causes Susan to despair both of their
ability to make things work, both of their dreams and Oliver and
Susan’s relationship. From here on out the rest of book gathers a
sense of hopelessness like a person sliding down sand, trying to claw
their way to the top. It may be that in all things, we need that hope
of something different tomorrow that causes us to continue to try
today.
Another reference to “the
angle of repose” which Stegner reminds us of what it is.
Susan says that Oliver works
too hard. She does not mind that he does hard work, but that he
sacrifices his family to work hard.
On the other hand, Susan wants
her son, Ollie to be different than her husband. She wants him to be
refined and know that there can be more than just living on top of a
horse. But Ollie is suited to be like his father rather than his
mother. This will be the cause of him divorcing himself from his
mother.
darned elbows-pride gets in
the way of knowing people.
There is a bit of stoicism
here as well. Susan thinks that what man and woman are born to is
unhappiness. Such a down thought. Also I think there is something
which she is missing. From the Christian view, this is not how we see
things. When you look at important Christian documents, such as the
Westminster Catechism, you see: Q.
1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to
glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
What sticks out is the glorify
and enjoy
part. This is what we are made for, to enjoy, not to go through life
downtrodden. There will be times, but that is not the end.
The Rose Garden-in Oliver’s
mind, the gift to Susan as a means of saying thank you for sticking
to him through all of the difficulties.
Evaluation of the
situation-Oliver is a good man with one weakness, drink under
depression.. Susan feels like she is being unfaithful to him, whether
physically or in spirit, the book never says. Also, she cannot
forgive him for that weakness. So she watches him to see if he will
fail.
Chapter Four
Susan considers her time in
Idaho as a time of exile. When Oliver understands this, he feels less
than supported. This gets to the point of faith and trust. The
central point is did Susan really have faith that Oliver’s project
would work out? Did Oliver over trust people?
Chapter Five
Is rage a better response than
self-blame when someone trusts another and is wronged?
Then there is the tension
between Susan and Frank. They are drawn to each other, but they both
love Oliver as well. Susan tries to find excuses to distance herself
from Frank. But they keep getting drawn closer. Lyman wonders if this
is what happened to his wife and surgeon.
Chapter Six
Lyman realizes that at this
stage of his life, the Fall is not a season to look forward to as in
a new school year, but as the beginning of an ending.
Lyman ponders the life of his
assistant Shelly. He says that he thinks that someone should have
taught her to question
the act of questioning.
Interesting statement. Why do we question things? Is it because we
are unsure? Is it because we want to know? Or more likely it is
because we want to tear down. The problem is in the tearing down,
what do we replace it with? Nothing? Something? They both can be
questioned and we get into a state of not-knowing.
Oneida Colony- a perfectionist
religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 in
Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already
returned in AD 70, making it possible for them to bring about Jesus's
millennial kingdom themselves, and be free of sin and perfect in this
world, not just in Heaven From Wikipedia
Stegner also talks about the
problems with communal life.
Chapter Seven
Difference between historical
writing and fiction: Henry James quote about Don’t
tell me too much
so that he could invent between facts. While the historian needs more
facts to piece together the story.
Susan understands that in
order to patch things up, she has to return to the West.
Then there is the character of
Oliver. If he is in debt, he wants to pay it off, and he will not
stop until he does. In doing so, he is moving around: Merced, Salt
Lake City, Mazatlan, ...
Susan laments that she is
losing her family, at least their love.
Oliver rips up the rose
garden. This is a sign that their love has been lost.
The Zodiac Cottage
Chapter One
A friend of Lyman named Ed,
who has lots of physical problems. But a quality about him is that
he knows what he can
do and lets others do what they can do.
A good mindset.
In the days which Stegner
wrote this book, you could still use the N-word. He uses it once or
twice in the book, more as a description of something than in
reference to a person.
Lyman makes reference to the
house. Says that it was an early Maybeck house and hopes that one day
it becomes part of the National Trust. In reality, this was the North
Star house. Julia Morgan, the one who was the architect for Hearst
Castle, was the one who designed this house. It is part of the
National Registry of Historic Landmarks.
Reasons for Susan’s
unhappiness after Idaho:
-
Felt that she had been
unfaithful to Oliver
-
Blamed herself for the
drowning of her daughter
-
Suicide of her lover, Frank
-
Lost the trust of Oliver
-
Lost the trust of her son.
Things changed around Oliver
and Susan, but they continued to live unhappy lives with each other.
Lyman says that Susan recognized her mistake-that is not appreciating
him until it was too late. Oliver never forgave her either.
Consequences was that they were was not physicalness to their
marriage after that point-no touching, no kissing, no tenderness.
And then there is the “angle
of Repose” again. To Lyman, it means death. And in Susan and
Oliver’s case, it meant a living death
In this chapter, most of it is
a dream. A dream that his ex walked back into his life. He had
conversations with her about his grandparents. Then, he had a
decision to make-does he take the physicalness of Shelly or the long
years with with ex? I think he makes the decision to go with his ex.
But that is a dream.
Wisdom … is knowing what
you have to accept.
The last line sums up the
book’s question. In
this not-quite-quiet darkness, while the diesel breaks its heart more
and more faintly on the mountain grade, I lie wondering if I am man
enough to be a bigger man than my grandfather.
The question is not so much about the grandmother, but the
grandfather. The one who bore much for his wife.
Evaluation:
Stegner
uses so many names which I am familiar with-either places or
people, it seems like I have lived in part of this book. That helped
draw me in. This is a book which you have to sit down and listen to
the story rather than have it come at you. The words and flow is
where Stegner excels rather than descriptions of action.
Stegner writes with humor,
such as describing Pricey’s reading habits and the trickery which
goes along with it. But it is not slapstick, but more of a
description of what goes on in life. And yet, it is a depressing
story. A story of lost love and a story of the taming of the West. It
is based upon the real lives of Mary and Arthur Foote.
Would I read another of
Stegner’s books? I would. But it would need to be intentional,
rather than just picking up a book to read.
Notes from my book group:
What is an angle of repose?
Why does Stegner use this as a title? Which character(s) and/or
situation(s) would this term apply to? How?
There is several references to
physical descriptions, such as angle of repose, the Doppler Effect,
the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Sometimes these are applied to more
human endeavors. How do they match up to the human condition? Is
there a problem taking these physical laws and applying them to the
human condition?
What do you think of Stegner's
narrative technique, i.e., his use of a contemporary historian to
tell Susan Ward's story? Is Lyman Ward a reliable narrator? How would
this novel be different if Lyman's own story were excluded? How does
Stegner use these limitations to shape Lyman's role as a narrator and
biographer? What is Stegner saying about the past and future?
Places
Stegner has a laundry lists of
places, people books and authors. Any of it meaningful to you? Or are
they more thrown in to give you context and a feeling of being there?
Stegner's novels are known for
their strong sense of place. What role does the terrain in the West
play in Angle of Repose? Would you consider the land to be a
'character' in the novel? Can you describe this character in human
terms? From
the Publisher
Characters
Describe Oliver’s character
and how he evolves through the story. Then do the same for Susan.
Who did you identify with?
Why? Who do you think Lyman did?
At the end of the second
chapter in the Leadville section, Stegner says about Oliver: At the
end of the chapter, Lyman says that He
never did less than the best he knew how. If that was not enough, if
he felt criticism in the air, he put on his hat and walked out.
Comment on this. Is this good way to handle things? How does it play
out later in Oliver’s life?
To go on about Oliver, he is
not a talker. yet his achievements is known. How? Also how does this
fit in with a previous book of ours, Quiet?
What drives Oliver and Susan
apart? Where did this division begin and what kept the division
widening?
What would Susan Ward’s role
look like today? Was she inhibited from expressing herself as a
person? In what ways? Would she be less inhibited today? Would that
have been a good thing?
What would have happened to
Susan if she had married Thomas Hudson? Was marrying Oliver the wrong
choice? From Shmoop
Misc
Is the line, I
suppose in a way we deserve the people we marry
a throw away? Or is there wisdom behind it? How do we interpret the
line? (Chp New Almaden, 7)
In the 5th chapter of the
Leadville section, there is a discussion about the Public Domain:
How does one
guarantee the probity of government science?
King answers his own question, You
pick men you would trust with your life and you trust them with the
Public Domain. How
do we keep government science trustworthy? Or is it? Does Kings
answer work today?
There are discussions between
Lyman and Shelly about how to present intimacy in a novel. This
ranges from being discrete to full fledged graphic portrayal. This
leads up to two stories at the end of the book. The first is the
final relationship between Susan and Frank and Agnes’ death. The
second is Lyman’s dream between him, his ex and Shelly. Does
Stegner’s means of not being explicit leave something out in how
come Oliver and Susan split? Or is there not enough to get
resolution? Also in terms of Lyman’s dream, do you wish there was
less? Does it help to explain Lyman more as he works through
resolving his thoughts towards his ex and Shelly?
Roses play an insignificant,
but meaningful part in the story. What is the meanings which Stegner
places on them?
Grass Valley takes on a large
role in this book, but we only hear about Lyman’s remembrances
about his grandparents here? Why? Why does Stegner end with Susan
in Idaho?
Note: This house is
called the North Star House or Foote Mansion. It still stands today
and is on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks (10001191).
Rennovations was started in the mid 2000’s. The address is 12075
Old Auburn Road, Grass Valley. This was Julia Morgan’s first
significant, large-scale, residential project.
Did the ending seem fitting?
Satisfying? Predictable?
Every story has a world view.
Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How
did it affect the story?
Why do you think the author
wrote this book? What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “take aways” did you
have from this book?
Talk about specific passages
that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing,
illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
Does Stegner engage in
gadzookery? (With his many uses of thee’s)
=====
-
What would have happened to
Susan if she had married Thomas Hudson?
-
Do you think that Susan and
Augusta's relationship is romantic on any level? Why or why not?
-
Is Rodman a good son?
Explain.
-
In your view, why is Lyman
writing his book? Explain your reasoning.
-
Does Ellen deserve
forgiveness? Why or why not?
-
Where do you think Shelly
goes after the novel ends? Explain.
-
Should Susan have broken up
with Oliver and married Frank? Explain.
-
Does Lyman ever finish his
book?
=====
1.
What do you think of Stegner's narrative technique, i.e., his use of
a contemporary historian to tell Susan Ward's story? Is Lyman Ward a
reliable narrator? How would this novel be different if Lyman's own
story were excluded?
2.
Stegner's narrator is confined to a wheelchair and partially
paralyzed. He cannot move his head to either side, and thus can only
look straight ahead. How does Stegner use these limitations to shape
Lyman's role as a narrator and biographer? What is Stegner saying
about the past and future?
3.
How much of Susan Ward's destiny was determined by the era in which
she lived and the limitations that era placed on a woman's freedom?
Do you think of her as a woman ahead of her time?
4.
Throughout the novel, Susan is torn between her old life on the east
coast and her new one on the west. To each of her western homes she
strives to bring a sense of gentility and comfort, even in the most
rudimentary of circumstances. Her cabin in Leadville, for instance,
becomes a magnet for the town's cultural elite despite the cramped
quarters. Are the efforts futile or worthwhile? Do you applaud her
attempts at civilizing the West or is she merely unable to accept
another way of life for what it is? Is there a fundamental difference
between America's two coasts today?
5.
Stegner eliminates any concrete evidence of Susan's infidelity with
Frank Sargent, leaving Lyman the task of piecing together the events
that led up to Agnes's death. Why are these details left deliberately
obscure? Does this heighten or mitigate the effects of Agnes's death
on the story? Is Lyman being fair to Susan in his depiction of these
events?
6.
Susan often wonders if she made the right decision in marrying
Oliver. Would someone like Thomas Hudson have brought her more
happiness? What do you imagine Susan's life would have been like if
she had stayed in the East? How did her years in the West shape her
character?
7.
Why does the novel end with Susan's return to Idaho? Why is it
significant that the details of her life in the house in Grass Valley
are given to us through the present only?
8.
Do you think Lyman identifies more with his grandmother or his
grandfather? How do the various aspects of his present
situation—i.e., age, physical disability, marriage, career—compare
and contrast to those of his grandparents?
9.
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. Why do you think Stegner chose this term for the
title of his novel? By the end of the novel, has Lyman reached his
own angle of repose? How does he change over the course of the summer
in which this novel takes place?
10.
Stegner's novels are known for their strong sense of place. What role
does the terrain in the West play in Angle of Repose? Would you
consider the land to be a 'character' in the novel? Can you describe
this character in human terms?
11.
The story of America's western expansion has been told in myriad
ways, but often with the same details: danger and hardships, brave
but crude pioneers, and get-rich-quick schemes peddled by
untrustworthy scam artists. How do Susan and Oliver's experiences
compare and contrast with these myths of the American West? How is
each a hero in his or her own right? How are they different from the
stereotypical western hero?
12.
Angle of Repose was written in 1971, during a period of great
upheaval in America's social and political culture. How does
Stegner's novel reflect the issues that were prevalent at the time of
his writing? What are the parallels, if any, between Susan Ward's
story and that of Shelly Hawkes? How does each woman represent her
own era? Is either story as relevant today?
New Words:
-
antimacassars (Grass Valley,
1): a piece of cloth put over the back of a chair to protect it from
grease and dirt or as an ornament.
-
vivacity (Grass Valley, 1):
the quality of being attractively lively and animated.
-
charivari (New Almaden, 2): a
noisy mock serenade performed by a group of people to celebrate a
marriage or mock an unpopular person.
-
theodolite eyepiece (New
Almaden, 3):
-
Judas Tree (New Almaden, 7):
Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as the Judas tree
-
narcosis (New Almaden, 7): a
state of stupor, drowsiness, or unconsciousness produced by drugs.
-
Fresno
scrapers
(chp Leadville, 2):a machine pulled by horses used for constructing
canals and ditches in sandy soil. The design of the Fresno Scraper
forms the basis of most modern earthmoving scrapers, having the
ability to scrape and move a quantity of soil, and also to discharge
it at a controlled depth, thus quadrupling the volume which could be
handled manually
-
taciturnity (chp Leadville,
2): might be snobby, naturally quiet, or just shy. Having its origin
in the Latin tacitus, "silent," taciturn came to be used
in mid-18th-century English in the sense "habitually silent."
-
effete (chp Leadville, 3):
affected, over refined, and ineffectual.
-
Silurian (chp Leadville, 4):
a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the
end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to
the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya
-
palaver (chp Leadville, 10):
prolonged and idle discussion.
-
darned elbows (chp Mesa, 3):
referring to shirts which have been patched
-
historical rictus (chp Mesa,
6): rictus-the gaping or opening of the mouth.
Book References:
-
Clarence Dutton
-
John Wesley Powell
-
Arthur De Wint Foote
-
Literary History of the
United States by
Wallace Stegner
-
Selected American Prose:
The Realistic Movement: 1840-1900
an anthology
-
Edith Wharton
-
John Greenleaf Whittier
-
The Culprit Fay
by Joseph Rodman Drake
-
Lyman Beecher
-
Harriet Beecher Stowe
-
Edward Everett Hale
-
The Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam
-
Snowbound
-
Hanging of the Crane
by Longfellow
-
The Skeleton in Armor
-
Bret Harte
-
Scarlet Letter
-
Henry James
-
Novelle
by Goethe
-
Turgenev
-
Daniel Deronda
-
Leaves of Grass
-
Bradford Curtis, Margaret
Fuller
-
Hawthorne
-
-
Helen Hunt jackson
-
Mountaineering in the
Sierra Nevada by
Clarence King
-
Louisa Alcott
-
Scott
-
Kipling
-
Cooper
-
Emerson
-
Artemis Ward
-
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
-
Idylls of the King
by Tennyson
-
The Freshening Day
by Thomas-may not be a real book
-
Insects of the Various
Kinds - another
maybe not real story
Good Quotes:
-
First
Line: Now I
believe
they will leave me alone.
-
Last
Line: In this not-quite-quiet darkness, while the diesel breaks its
heart more and more faintly on the mountain grade, I lie wondering
if I am man enough to be a bigger man than my grandfather.
-
Towns are like people. Old
ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable. Chp
Grass Valley, 7
-
Home is a notion that only
the nations of the homeless fully appreciate and only the uprooted
comprehend. Chp New Almaden, 7
-
I suppose in a way we deserve
the people we marry. Chp New Almaden, 7
-
I would rather be
picturesquely uncomfortable than comfortably dull. Chp The Canyon, 2
-
No life goes past so swiftly
as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all
alike. Chp The Canyon, 4
Table of Contents:
-
Introduction
-
Grass Valley
-
New Almaden
-
Santa Cruz
-
Leadville
-
Michoacan
-
On the Bough
-
The Canyon
-
The Mesa
-
The Zodiac Cottage
References:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reluctant Habits - a
blog of
reading the Modern Library
-
-
-
-
Salon’s
review
of an audio recording
