Art Tours for Book Lovers: Enliven Your Book Club with Docent Led Discussions

The Sound of Mountain Water: The Changing American West 2015-2016 Tours for Book Lovers Selection

ABOUT THE BOOK The essays, memoirs, letters, and speeches in this volume were written over a period of twenty-five years, a time in which the West witnessed rapid changes to its cultural and natural heritage, and emerged as an important conservationist and novelist. This collection is divided into two sections: the first features eloquent sketches of the West’s history and environment, directing our imagination to the sublime beauty of such places as San Juan and Glen Canyon; the concluding section examines the state of Western literature, of the mythical past versus the diminished present, and analyzes the difficulties facing any contemorary Western writer. The Sound of Mountain Water is both a hymn to the Western landscape, an affirmation of the hope embodied therein, and a careful investigation of the West's cultural and natural legacy. – from product description.

BOOK DISCUSSION GUIDE Use the information and discussion guide on the following pages to facilitate your book club’s conversation of this book. Then visit us at www.umfa.org/arttoursforbooklovers to make a group reservation.

1. What was Stegner’s intent in beginning Part I with “Overture” and concluding with “Coda”? 2. If you have the time, read the first essay, “Overture,” aloud to your group asking members to identify key words and phrases that relate to the senses. How does this short, introductory essay set us up for the rest of the book? 3. In the essay on “Rediscovery of America: 1946,” Wallace writes that in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah “there were no back roads then, because everything was a back road.” Has our modern highway system put an end to back roads travel? To what effect? 4. In “Packhorse Paradise,” Stegner describes an arduous 14 mile ride into Havasupai Canyon. What are his predictions for the effects of opening the canyon to tourists as both harmful and helpful to the Indians living there? 5. “Navaho Rodeo” describes an unusual day in the life of the Navaho. In what ways are the festivities of the rodeo similar and different from the celebrations of your experience? 6. In “San Juan and Glen Canyon,” Stegner describes his experience while rafting the San Juan River. Have you ever been on a river trip? Was it memorable? 7. What are the positive and negative effects of creating Lake Powell out of Glen Canyon? What are the issues today regarding water use in Utah and the West? 8. One of the most eloquent statements ever written regarding wilderness preservation is the third paragraph in “Coda” (“Something will have gone…”) known simply as the “Wilderness Letter.” Discuss both Stegner’s use of prose and the ideas presented in this paragraph. 9. Stegner writes that he feels most “at home” in Salt Lake City. What places does he describe that strike a chord with you? What do you consider as your “hometown”? What makes it so? 10. Do you agree with Stegner’s assessment of the contributions made to Western literature by Bret Harte, Willa Cather, and Bernard DeVoto? Which of these authors have you enjoyed reading? Why? 11. Western writers face problems of authenticity, stereotypes, and naiveté. Do you feel that Western painters and sculptors face the same challenges? 12. How do you feel about Stegner’s descriptions of the wilderness? Does he paint with words? Can you hear the sound of mountain water?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR An American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, Wallace Stegner (1909- 1993) is often called “The Dean of Western Writers.” He studied at the and the University of Iowa, receiving his Ph.D. from the latter institution in 1935. He is the author of twelve novels and seven nonfiction works, as well as numerous articles and reviews. His Angle of Repose was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1971, and The Spectator Bird received a National Book Award in 1976. Dr. Stegner has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College (1980), among others. He has taught at several universities, including the University of Utah, the University of Wisconsin, Harvard University, and Stanford University from 1945 to 1971, when he retired as Jackson E. Reynolds Professor of Humanities. (Source: The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 1980)

ADDITIONAL READING AND VIEWING

Benson, Jackson. Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work. Viking Adult, 1996. Fradkin, Philip L. Wallace Stegner and the American West. University of California Press, 2009. Howe, John (Producer). Wild River: The Colorado. KUED, 2005. Jefferies, Richard (as rediscovered by Brooke Williams and Terry Tempest Williams). The Story of My Heart. Torrey House Press, LLC, 2014. Steensma, Robert C. A Gentile in the New Jerusalem: Wallace Stegner in Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press, November 2007) Steensma, Robert C. Wallace Stegner’s Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press, 2007. Stegner, Page (ed.) The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner. Counterpoint, 2008. Stegner, Wallace. Angle of Repose. Vintage, 2014. Stegner, Wallace. Crossing to Safety. Vintage, 2014.

RELATED WEBSITES Good Reads, “Wallace Stegner Quotes,” http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/157779.Wallace_Stegner Hepworth, James R. The Paris Review. “Wallace Stegner, The Art of Fiction” No. 118. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2314/the-art-of-fiction-no-118-wallace-stegner Marriott Library, “Wallace Stegner Biography.” http://wallacestegner.org/bio. New York Times, “Wallace Stegner.” http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/ people/s/ wallace-stegner/index.html University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. “Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Enviornment. http://www.law.utah.edu/newsletter/stegner-center-20th-annual- symposium. The Writing University. “Wallace Stegner.” http://www.writinguniversity.org/writers/ wallace-stegner.

AVAILABILITY 1 copy available through the Salt Lake County Library system. 1 copy available through the Salt Lake City Library system. Available through area bookstores. New and used hard bound and paperback copies available through various online book companies. Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook versions are available. Area booksellers, Frost’s Books and The King’s English offer discounts on UMFA Art Tours for Book Lovers books.