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Proquest Dissertations Norman Maclean and the Problem of Identity: Storytelling, Tragedy, and American Literature Stephen Andrew Calatrello A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 UMI Number: 3381437 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform 3381437 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Norman Maclean and the Problem of Identity: Storytelling, Tragedy, and American Literature Stephen Andrew Calatrello APPROVED Dr. Carl Ostrowski, Major Professor \jv\vl ft n*~J~~L^ Dr. Will Brantley, Reader ) \2&UA. &Aj-r*L<jjnfi/x4o^^ Dr. Tom Strawman, Chair, Department of English Dr. Michael D. Allen, Dean, College of Graduate Studies Copyright © 2009 Stephen Andrew Calatrello To my wife Jennifer and my children Thomas, Jack, Annie, and Henry ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The origin of this work goes back more than twenty years to a previous, quite different period in my life. During this time, I lived in a house that looked out over the Pacific Ocean and there I was lucky to live among a close circle of friends: poets, painters, and musicians, a few of whom were errant dock workers. Our doors and windows were always open, and the days and nights were full of music, books, laughter, interesting people, and good conversation. One day, I picked up a roommate's copy of Norman Maclean's A River Runs through It and Other Stories from the coffee table and read what I still believe is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. Although I was not aware of it at the time, a dissertation had begun. This project would not have been possible without the patience, assistance, and guidance of Dr. Carl Ostrowski. I am deeply indebted to him for his advice and counsel over the years and for his close reading of the manuscript. I am likewise grateful to Dr. Will Brantley, who reminded me amid my dark hours of St. John of the Cross's words: "All shall be well; and all shall be well, and all matter of iii things shall be well." I am a better reader, writer, and teacher because of these and several other distinguished faculty members/mentors in the English Department: Dr. Michael Dunne, Dr. Angela Hague, and Dr. Robert Petersen. Dr. Kevin Donovan and Dr. Tom Strawman have likewise helped to make my path easier to navigate. I would like to thank my colleagues at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, AL, for their support and encouragement over the years. Among these, I must thank the staff of Albert P. Brewer Library for assisting me with my numerous requests and accommodations. Furthermore, I must thank my good friend and colleague Dr. Ray Bell for the thousands of road miles and experiences we shared commuting to MTSU. Finally, I am grateful for my friend Dr. Randy K. Cross, a true gentleman and scholar, for listening to me, encouraging me, and reading my manuscript. More immediately, my family has supported and encouraged me throughout this process. I'd like to thank my mother Anne B. King and my father Robert L. Calatrello for their love and support. My deepest debt, however, is iv to my wife Jennifer for always being in my balcony; her abiding love, encouragement, and faith are beyond measure. ABSTRACT Although Norman Maclean is best known for his novella A River Runs through It, in Young Men and Fire, he asserts a central premise that undergirds his work: "The problem of identity is always a problem, not just a problem of youth." At seventy, Maclean began his literary career, one that can be viewed as his attempt to explore this problem. Throughout his life, Maclean championed narratives — stories and storytelling. This book-length study presents an analysis of Maclean's intrigue with narratives, particularly the process by which narratives shape the individual's self-identity. For Maclean, the problem of identity can be resolved at any given time when a person finds a story that tells him something about himself. Applying insights from the criticism of Gerard Genette, Dan McAdams, Jerome Bruner, and Donald Polkinghorne, it becomes evident that Maclean does more than transform personal histories into art; his texts constitute what McAdams calls narrative identities, "stories people construct and tell about themselves to define who they are for themselves and for others." vi Any study of Maclean, particularly one involving his quest for identity, must explore how he renders two events from his personal history: the murder of his brother Paul and the Mann Gulch Fire. Maclean's treatment of these personal tragedies reflects his belief that tragedy is the most demanding of literary forms; as such, this study focuses on Maclean's ideas regarding tragedy, tracing them to Aristotle and Shakespeare. Beyond the Aristotelian and Shakespearean influences, one senses that Maclean — approaching the end of his life -- casts himself as his own tragic hero. As McAdams would put it, Maclean becomes an individual, Ma storyteller who narrates life while living it." Although Maclean's influences were numerous and diverse, many of them were writers associated with the American literary tradition; therefore, this study traces the influence of four canonical writers on Maclean. Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Hemingway provide a useful context against which readers may better understand Maclean's art, for many of these writers were themselves exploring matters of individual self-hood and identity. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II - MACLEAN AS STORYTELLER 32 CHAPTER III - MACLEAN'S TRAGIC VISION 80 CHAPTER IV - MACLEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 147 CHAPTER V - CONCLUSION 211 WORKS CITED 219 viii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In a letter written by Sarah Orne Jewett to Willa Cather, Jewett offers her friend a thoughtful, apt definition of literature. "The thing that teases the mind," muses Jewett, "over and over for years, and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper — whether little or great, it belongs to Literature" (Cather 6). At least two aspects of Jewett's characterization of what constitutes literature help inform the life and literary career of Norman Fitzroy Maclean (1902-1990). If Jewett's notion is accurate — that literature is produced by writers teased by particular experiences, whether real or imagined — then this applies to Maclean, a man who for decades internalized the grief of his brother's murder and the death of twelve United States Forest Service Smokejumpers.1 In addition, Maclean's literary career, which he embarked upon late in life, exemplifies Jewett's idea that literature "at last gets itself put down on paper." With a distinguished teaching and administrative career at the University of 1 In all, the Mann Gulch tragedy claimed the lives of thirteen United States Forest Service members. James 0. Harrison, a recreation and fire prevention guard stationed at the mouth of Meriwether Canyon, perished in the fire. 2 Chicago behind him, Maclean spent his remaining years putting down on paper rightly that which had repeatedly teased — if not haunted — his mind. Norman Maclean was the first-born son of John Norman Maclean and Clara (Davidson) Maclean. A brother, Paul, was born in 1905. In 1909, the Macleans moved from Clarinda, Iowa, to Missoula, Montana, where Maclean's father was a Presbyterian minister. Maclean's early education was conducted at home by his father, a "stern and harsh" man who introduced his sons early to the grace and beauty — the art — of religion, fly-fishing, and literature (Kittredge and Smith 172). According to Maclean, his home- schooled days were divided. The boy's morning hours were highly structured periods devoted to reading, writing, and recitation; however, in the afternoons, the Presbyterian minister turned his boys loose, free to explore the fields, roam the woods, and fish the rivers ("The Woods, Books, and Truant Officers" 82),2 2 See also Maclean's "Interview" with National Public Radio. After one such afternoon excursion, the exuberant boy flaunted his freedom — and perhaps his catch — too openly to friends confined in the schoolyard, and a subsequent confrontation with a Missoula truant officer landed Maclean in the public schools. 3 When World War I broke out, many of the men who worked for the United States Forest Service left the woods to go to war. Because his age prohibited enlistment, the fifteen-year-old Maclean began working summers for the United States Forest Service clearing brush, cutting fire roads, and spotting forest fires; living and working in the logging camps profoundly shaped Maclean's character and literary expression in the years ahead.3 The Macleans were not wealthy. The Reverend Maclean's salary was a modest $1,800 a year, yet the elder Maclean assured his son that when the time came for him to go to college, he would have enough money saved to send him to whatever college he could get into. "I cannot tell you," Maclean recalled, "what that assurance did to my character .... His saying what he and my mother were going to do for me was one of the most important things in my life" (Kittredge and Smith 117) .
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