1987-Vol13-No4web.Pdf

American Fl.Fisher Mixed Bag In this issue of thcs Anzrricnn Fly chcs of knowledge. The history of fly- this issue of the Amrrican Flv Fi.sl1c.r. we invite you to enjoy the litcrature of 1'c.r- I FI.S/I(,Y,rattler than c.oncentratc fishing is not just a c:~talogt~tlcollection on a single topic as in our pre- of old piscatorial regalia; more corrrctly, lyn Klinkrnborg, thc art tlcbsc-ribetl by vious two nu1n1)ers.wc' return to :I it transccnds thrw inanimate things. lo Allan Hassall, Rohert Kohrman's check- , potl~o~n-riof offerings. You will fully comprehend and apl~reciatt,its list of pseudonyms, ChigSpolek's trcat- note that articles covering a broad tlc~vrlopmcntant1 context, one must merit of l)owrc~andaction, ant1 a pocm I)y rangc of topics ;ire included: understand a much hroatler picture, onc Henry Van Dyke. We remind our readers, B'litcr;rturc, art, history-even mathemat- that encompasses literature, history, art, too, that we always apprcciatc, comments ics. Obviously, anything that we publish and more. Surc, it's important to inclucle antl suggestions-and that ourc-ontinuctl relates to thc history of fly-fishing, but we articles on reels, rods, and flies, ant1 MI? success tlrl)rnds upon thc c.ontril)utions pausc momentarily to point out that this will c-ontinuc to do so. It isour intention, of I-eatlers antl supl~orters! relatively small area of c.onc.crn is inti- however, when doing this to always I)? mately intertwined with all othcr bran- ~nintlfulof a mtrcli larger framework. In SUMMER^ 1987 Volume 13 Number 4 TR1lSI'1F.S I;O\ICIli,~~t) \V II,IIIL~~IIhlc.llll. hl.1). On th~CO~IPI: l'~t1113{)11t~xa,t 13,)l) hli~~l~~~ll I.<,~ri*XI. li0111t~11 111 i:;ttI .\. N.I\.IIIV 11. Illu.ttration by A llan Ha.tsall ,\~\o!II{I~MA\ \Vm r~,,h'r~~cll~~s K,,IM.II K. lit11 LIII;I\IC.I I.C~ISILII l'<,!h~t~\ I);LII(:;ilI:axll:at~ I<,>I~Il'v~h~n\ KO, I).(:II;~>SII 11. .\1;111 1'1111,1,\ Talking about Maclean .............. 2 (:IllL\I~~>IwI (:ttok S:~~lt;utltc.lI' Kva.cl (:Ix~~lnK. F.icli<,l 41.t11 K~)\c.ttl,.o~rt~ Verlyn Klinken borg C.. h I.it~l:n lir~tl!Kt~w~ll \V. h11~I~:~~~lb-il,x<,~:~Icl 1\:111 \c 1~1t~11.h1.1) .\1111111 1'. 1:11.\ 1'.1111 4~111111~~1~ Where the Action Is .................7 C.;n#ln(.l 1.. (;1:1111 I.:~II<?I\a I~~vie~l~#~!l Kl, h,ttd ll~lt,~~t&~vh 4l~~~~h~~ll41t~:lll Graig Spolek S;IIIIIIC.~ (:. 101111\011 Kxll \li!tv>tl Ii,~hh;ahn I'c.I<,I\V. SltoIt I<!(11.t111 1.. li~n\ K.III~II I ingl,. Tying the Edson Tiger ............... 12 ILIcl lillt.gr,! Ii~~~~n~~lI15. 111)*1)11 I):!! i,l 1%.l.c,ll~c~ )~tnV.111 1.0.111 Philip Chute Nick I.\<BII\ \;I!)> \',!!I NW I;UI1). hl~k,t> 111,L\OII I,.\Vl~ilt~,,\ l~<I!~.,~<l1;. Z,,t!l On Early Canadian Painting ........... 14 ol~I~I~:lKs Allan Hmsall (.'/II!;~III(III 111 /If(. I$OIIII/ (~:ll(Ill<~lI.. (;l;llll Atlantic Salmon and the Dry Fly .......... 18 I'rl~.\fl/l~ffl KCI~)I.II K. Buc ~I~I:I\I(.I Ashley C. Hewitt 1'1, f, lJrl~.\l~/~~ffl IY. A'li<ll:l<~l I:il/~l~l;ll<l Checklist of Angling Pseudonyms ........ 22 -rr,.(~.\If rm I.(,igli 11. l'c,~ki~i\ Robert Kohrman Sr~.r~lnry la11 11. h1:11k;ty Notes and Comment ................ 27 ,.I.\.$l.~/~flfl ,S<V r~,/lfr~' (.'/(>I I( (:li:~rIc,\ I<.Is:i( 111.1 Museum News ................... 28 Talking about Maclean A River Runs Through It, a collrctzon of short storzrs by Norman Maclran, was publzshrd by thr Unz71rrszty of Chzrag-o Prrss zn Aprzl1976. It zs the most popular work off~ctzonpublzshrd by thzs prrcs. Tu~rnty-fourthous- a71d copzrc of tlrr clothbound tradr rdl- t~on11a71r brrn told to datr (nozo, an a71rragrof 1,000 copzrs arr sold annually); 115,500 copzrs of thr paperback rdltlon hnz~rhrrn cold (nozo, about 18,000arr sold annuallv); and g~ftand drluvr edztlonc account for npprouzmatrly anothrr10,000 7101umrs sold In thort, nrarly 150,000 copzr~harw brrn purchasrd-not bad for thr fzrpt lztrrary rffort ofa rrtzred CInz71c.r- szty of Chzcago profrs~orof Enqlzslz who was srr~rnty-fouryears old at the t~mrof publzmtzon. Thrrr storzes nrr co11rrt~d; the longrtt, and clrarly thr brct, zs thr fzrst, "A R17wr Runs Through It". M'r Books of The Times A RIVER RCINS THROUGH IT. September 23, 1983 BY Norman Maclean. Photographs by Joel Snyder. by C hrzstop her Lehmann-Haupt 124 pages. Illustrated. Chicago. $25. Norman Maclean was a professor of English at the IJniversity of Chicago until his retirement in 197.3. Then he took up writing, and at the age of 70 brought the rrniversitv's press a book of threc stories-a book "with trees in it," hc explained, hence its rejection hy a nilmber of commercial outfits- which Chicago published in 1976 ... ... under the title "A River RunsThrough It and Other Stories." Despitr the trees (or because of them), the book did very well for the press, selling about 20,000 copies in its 1l:ird-cover version, and 50,000 more in its paperback edition, which came out in 1980. That means at least a mil- lion literate people (or however many there are in the LTnitedStates) have not yc~read even the title story. They may (lo so now in a special gift edition of "A River Runs Through It" that the publisher has just put out. A gift edition of a novella, or what is really no more than a long short story? With a foreword by the lIniversity of Chicago Press's senior editor that is Norman hlaclmn by Verlyn Klinkenborg illustrated by Allan Hassall stretch no point in calling this a very fine rze.s. The other stories almost instantly pulsion or the luck to be caught in events example of fi.shing literature, and rue fell away, leaving us with "A River Runs that could actually be called a plot. This, entreat you to peruse this exceptional Through It." Maclean is not a great one infers from subsequent events, is a volume at next chance you get. We have author, for his output is small and very damn good thing. done two things: we've included a rmiew uneven, but he has written a great story, When Maclean says "I did not know of Maclean's book from the New York one that after more than a decade will be that stories of life are often more like Times (this will give you an idea a.5 to considered a classic of American litera- rivers than books," he is telling his tale background and plot of thestory), and we ture. "A River Runs Through It" so far and talking about it simultaneously. have also included Verlyn Klinkenborg's surpasses the rest of Maclean's work that Maclean does this naturally, for it suits e.c.say "Talking A bout Maclean." The lat- it must have surprised him the way it the openness of his temperament and the ter is insightful and precisely written, and surprises any reader who thinks he is fact that the narrator is an old man look- it tells us what Maclean's story is really all reading a fishing tale. ing back on his youth. Hemingway, to about. Verlyn has expertly probed the "A River RunsThrough It" is thestory take a famous example, conducts his bus- depths of Maclean and his.rtory, affording of a man, whose life is likeariver, talking iness differently. In "Big Two-Hearted us understanding that might have other- about his brother, whose life was like a River," the storyteller never stands back wise gone undi.scovered. book. "At the time," the narrator says from telling his tale to talk about it; he is while sitting on the bank of the Black- so all-knowing as to be invisible. It is as if foot, meditating, "I did not know that Hemingway assumes that readers have Ten years ago, the University of Chi- stories of life are often more like rivers larcenous natures and should not be cago Press first published Norman than books." He means that few lives trusted with a storyteller's ego, or as if Maclean's collertion of stories called A have plots. Most of us slide along like "Big Two-Hearted River" were told by River Runs Through It and Other Sto- foam on a river, lacking either the com- the private voice of a man who habitually just a touch self-congratulatory? With things that lie underneath-and see cal pronouncements about writing, it photographs illustrating what is pro- past them to the depths where doomed is in the specifics that art begins. foundly a work of literary imagina- mankind is transcending itself through Instead, what he finally has to say tion? Yes, I too had my doubts, espe- art. and where the art of thestorv itself about the specifics of art andof theBig cially about Joel Snyder's photos of is being conceived and shaped.' Blackfoot River is in the glorious final Montana's Big Blackfoot River, the But why the photographs? In an paragraphs of his story, which I can't story's setting, which tend to be either essay, "On the Edge of Swirls," writ- resist quoting, though you should full of spray and patterns of light or ten for the new edition, Mr.

Load more