Did Wallace Stegner Inadverdently Help Inspire The Counterculture ?
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Been really enjoying catching up on my reading and I just finished a book a friend gave me long ago, David Gessner’s All The Wild That Remains, which takes a deep dive into the lives, writing styles, and works of two of the best writers on the subject of the West, Wallace Stegner and Ed Abbey. Some called Stegner, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, "The Dean of Western Writers."
I found a passage I thought to be an odd and humorous connection and thought SOME on the Zone might find it interesting. I've never read any books on Ken Kesey but didn't see any mention of any connection to Stegner on things I have read.
Wallace Stegner taught writing at Stanford and students in the Creative Writing Program he founded in 1946 included the likes of Wendell Berry, Larry McMurtry, William Kittredge, Ed Abbey and Ken Kesey. Kesey said ‘It was like playing football under Vince Lombardi.” He and Stegner did not mesh well and did not like each other much.
Gessner wrote;
“Ken Kesey went as far as once suggesting that opposition to Stegner was part of the unifying force that brought the Merry Pranksters together and led to their LSD-fueled bus trip. ‘I have felt impelled into the future by Wally, by his dislike of what I was doing, of what we were doing. That was the kiss of approval in some way.’
There are those who have gone even further, suggesting that Kesey based Nurse Ratched – one of if not the most notorious authority figures in all of American literature – at least partly on the man running the particular institution Kesey was part of: the Stanford Creative Writing Program. Stanford professor and literary scholar Mark McGurl, whose book The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing…writes ‘It is hard to read about the bad behavior of McMurphy in the Group Meeting, his all-too-evident disrespect for Nurse Ratched, without connecting it to Kesey’s well-documented antagonism towards his teacher Wallace Stegner, whom, as John Daniels reports, Kesey saw as ‘the epitome of academic staidness and convention’ even as Stegner found Kesey irritatingly ‘half-baked.’”
There’s a later passage where Wendell Berry told a story about a poetry reading he had given at Stanford where one of the poems he read was about Kesey. Afterward Stegner said of the poems, “I liked them all except one.”
I chuckled when I found this odd pseudo-connection of Wallace Stegner with the Merry Pranksters. Who’da thunk it?
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
I thought everyone knew this
yes, I think so
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Def. High
Stegner and the CIA/MKULTRA.
Stegner and the CIA/MKULTRA.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Philzone Refugee
You mean Kesey wasn't fully
You mean Kesey wasn't fully baked?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
Okay, I'll bite. Thanks for
Okay, I'll bite. Thanks for the info on this book! I did look at it after your May post, however chose to put it on my "to read" list, and left it at that.
Alas, Slickrock, the post is brought up pronto when I login.....how'd you do that?
I had not known Stegner taught so many environmental authors. I read a Stegner book this year, and I will say....I was not pleased that his main character thought woman over 50 should not wear shorts....that really got me wondering more about Stegner himself, and his attitudes. (The book was All the Little Live Things. Not crazy about the subject, for personal reasons....) Nor his character's attitude about women in shorts! I thought, "You sweat your balls off, brother!" I've heard that Kitzhaber loved Stegner's writing, and I did like The Spectator Bird. Other than that, I haven't read any Stegner. I'll get to more in the future I'm sure.
So here is my Kesey history: my dog had died, an acquaintance had a stray cat, the cat had kittens, and I said I'd take the runt, still bummed about my dog. So, I got the kitten, and that day Ken Kesey died. So, I named him Kesey. Wanting his name to actually be Zaphod, I used Z's last name. Make sense? Overall, I think Ken Kesey only wrote....two really good books. Other than that, I didn't think he was such a great author. Good things and bad things about all of us, eh? A friend's dad had gone to U of O when Kesey was there, and said Kesey was the most popular guy on campus...and he knew it. And Great Notion really is well written. The subject is close to home...ever read about Brandy Oakes' murder in Alpine OR? I've been told not to mention it, but hey, it happened. It's on the web, so there ya go. Anyway, Ken was certainly a trickster.
Again, it'll be interesting to read Gessner's book. Sometime. Thanks for mentioning it!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
No idea why this thread got
No idea why this thread got resurrected when you logged in, KeseyB. Nothing I did. LOL
I read Stegner's Crossing To Safety and really liked that, and I look forward to tackling Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West.
I read a lot about the west and environmentally-related topics. I'm a big fan of Torrey House Press here in Utah. A lot of great books. https://www.torreyhouse.org/
Just finished Betsy Gaines Quammen's new one True West - Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America which was real good about connecting with each other. She also wrote American ZIon about momonism and the Bundys, which I really liked. But the Bundys hold a special place in my heart (and my anus) and that interested me.
But what I'm very excited about is the book I'm reading now by David Brooks. Yes, THAT David Brooks, the conservative commentator.
His new book is How To Know A Person and I think it may come to be one of the most important books I'll ever read. I'm about 1/3 the way through and it's been very very enlightening.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
I heard David Brooks being
I heard David Brooks being interviewed about his book, How to Know a Person, and was really touched by the backstory and his sweetness. He's become quite an interesting person during his segments on PBS Newshour on Fridays, seemingly much more human than I used to think he was. He seems less conservative than he used to sound.
I really liked Stegner's book Angle of Repose years ago. The angle of repose is a concept that intrigues me, and the book was so well written, as I believe is much of his work.
Kesey B, nice to see you.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
Wow, I am a bit biased about
Wow, I am a bit biased about David Brooks....his recent airport economy attack merely confirms my opinion, however he is probably the most thoughtful writer on the right. Hadn't considered reading his book, but perhaps I'll change my mind.....if the library has it, because I refuse to buy his stuff....oh, I see that there are 49 people on the waiting list for it!
Loved Slick's comment on the Bundys...!
Thanks, Judit! Hope the winter season is treating you well, and that your neighbor moves ~ Wish them well....somewhere else!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Yes Judit, Angle of Repose
Yes Judit, Angle of Repose was one I thought of also (but didn't mention) as a friend asked me if I'd read it when discussing Crossing to Safety, and in a tone of great reverence for that book. I'll need to borrow that from her.
It might be Brooks' softening could partially be a result of losing a lifelong best bud to suicide in 2022. He also lost fellow writers and commentators Mike Gerson and Mark Shields that year. He goes into it deeply in chapter 10, "How Do You Serve A Friend Who Is In Despair," which I just finished today. Halfway through the book now.
Yes KeseyB, I'm a little surprised by Brooks, and I mentioned him to a friend who said "Ya know, that's one guy on the right I'll listen to when he speaks. One of the more thoughtful right-wingers." Some folks might be surprised at his compassion. Definitely not a Rush Limbaugh or Hannity type. But that's part of our job now, learning to come together somehow through the misperceptions.
A friend I told about the book found 87 people on the waiting list here, but said the library had 15 copies. They also had links for audio copies and CD's of it read by Brooks.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Told some friends about
Told some friends about Brooks' book. I bought it at the bookstore for the $30 list. Today I saw it was available at Target stores for $20.
Good book. Interesting insights. I might just read it again in a bit to make sure some of it sunk in this mush head of mine. But I've jumped into a book about the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Rusty
KeseyB,, dish some more or a
KeseyB,, dish some more or a link to Brandy's murder. Was a neighbor of mine. Small world, though I would not want to paint it.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
Rusty,
Rusty,
I was told once to never, ever discuss this with anyone, which I thought was a bit odd, as it is local news. I felt a bit threatened, really. There are different kinds, everywhere, mixed into our neighborhoods. The story is sad, but my feeling is facts should not be hidden, nor denied. At this point its old news, Duane is out and has put the past behind him is my guess.
I don't have a current Gazette Times subscription, but if you do, or know someone who does, you can look into it more thoroughly. The story was in the GT at the time.
A quick google shows this from the GT:
"Dec 30, 1999 — July - Duane "Buzz" Oakes, a Monroe man charged in the death of his wife, Brandy Oakes, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading ..."
but then it cuts me off since I don't pay for it.
I think the date of the strangling was July 9, 1998. If I recall correctly, they were in separate cars at the tavern, had an argument, she got in the front seat of her vehicle and he got in the backseat behind her and strangled her. There was also meth found in at least one of the vehicles.
Eugene's Register Guard lets me see this much, with typos:
"... SPRINGFIELD Vailey fef Services Man jailed after wife dies ALPINE a Monroe man was arrested Friday and charged wilh manslaughter in connection wilh the death of hls 25- yearold wife. Brandy Oakes of Monroe was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis about pm Friday, where she died from injuries received in an assault in the Alpine Tavern parking lot about 3' miles northwest of Monroe. Benton ..."
Again, no subscription.
A friend found an article about it on the web; I'll ask for them to locate it for me again and pass it on. I bet info can also be found at local libraries.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
Rusty, this may work. I
Rusty, this may work. I learned that the e-resources can be found on the Corvallis library website. I was wrong about the date, it happened in November. The article on it is dated July 9 1999.
If you can't see these links, I'll take a screen shot. Generally, as I understand it, if you have a library card you can access anything in the GT. Good to Learn!
https://corvallisgazettetimes.newspapers.com/image/387564062/?terms=Bran...
https://corvallisgazettetimes.newspapers.com/image/387319312/?terms=Bran...
https://corvallisgazettetimes.newspapers.com/image/387319432/?terms=Bran...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Semolina Pilchard
> I think Ken Kesey only
> I think Ken Kesey only wrote....two really good books
That's two more than I've written, and Demon Box was a good read for what it was.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Rusty
Thanks KeseyB. I guess I was
Thanks KeseyB. I guess I was wondering more about you referring to it in the context of Great Notion - two timber families, being asked not to talk about it, the rumored involvement of a deputy, Buzz's short sentence etc.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
Merely yet another
Merely yet another dysfunctional american family, in this case both being heavily involved in the timber industry, albeit one was fiction.
Had you known about the murder?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: KeseyB
aah, re-reading, I see the
aah, re-reading, I see the answer....
"...the rumored involvement of a deputy...." What's that about? New to me.....
Happy New Year, anyway!