Norman Maclean’s “A River Runs through It”: The Search for Beauty is the first book-length study of Norman Maclean or any of his works. Since the publication of “A River Runs through It” in 1976, readers and critics have considered it to be one of the most carefully crafted stories in American Literature, in terms of both its structure and its style. The beauty of the story came with much hard work. This study traces Maclean’s revisions through four handwritten drafts and three typescripts, quoting extensively from previously unpublished material. The analysis of Maclean’s composition process lays the foundation for original and detailed discussions of other aspects of Maclean’s craft, such as his approach to genre and style. The study publishes for the first time the complete text of the notes that Maclean wrote after the first draft of “A River Runs through It.”
List of Figures Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Note on Diplomatic Transcriptions, Citations from Maclean Papers, and Bibliographic Terms Chapter 1: Norman Maclean’s Improbable Writing Career Chapter 2: Evolution of the Beginning The First Draft (MS1; Box 34, Folder 1) The Second Draft (MS2A;m Box 33, Folder 10) The Third Draft (MS3; Box 33, Folder 11) and Fourth Draft (MS4; Box 33, Folder 12) Revisions on the Typescripts Conclusion Chapter 3: No Clear Line between Fiction and Nonfiction Shifting Time Metanarration Real People and Characters Paul’s Death Conclusion Chapter 4: Variations of Time Clock Time Calendar Time Historical Time Lifespan Diurnal Time Biblical Time Geological Time Eternity All Things Merge into One Conclusion Chapter 5: The Problem of Genre Genre and Emotions Romance and Nostalgia: Norman and Paul’s Childhood Ceremonial Rhetoric: The Montana Club Paul and the Beautiful: The First Fishing Trip A Little Tragedy: Paul in Jail Comedy: Neal at Black Jack’s Bar Mock-Tragedy: The Second Fishing Trip Comedy: The Third Fishing Trip Romance and the Sublime: The Last Fishing Trip Tragedy: The Aftermath of Paul’s Death Resolution: The Lyric and the Beautiful Conclusion Chapter 6: Style and Hidden Art Reverend Maclean’s Commonplace Book Storytelling Around the Campfire A Personal Poetic Language Rhythm in Maclean’s Prose Sound in Maclean’s Prose Conclusion Chapter 7: The Evolution of the End Notes Version, Written 5 November 1973 (First MS Version, Summer to Early Fall 1973) A “Crude Version” (Second MS Version, MS1 Fragment, Late Winter to Early Spring 1974) MS2B (Third MS Version, Spring 1974) Fair Copy (Fourth MS Version, Late Spring 1974) Revisions on Typescript Pages (Early Summer 1974 to Spring 1976) Print Versions (1976 to Present) Afterword Works Cited Appendix 1: Notes on Revising “Fly Fishing” (MS1) Appendix 2: Typescripts, Fonts, and Typists Fonts and Typists Rejected Typescript Pages History of Typescripts Difficulties Dating the First Full Typescript Anomalies with Typescripts Appendix 3: Implications for Editing “A River Runs through It” Appendix 4: Symmetry in “A River Runs through It” Index
George H. Jensen is a Professor Emeritus with the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. His books include Personality and the Teaching of Composition (with John K. DiTiberio, 1989), Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Rhetorical Analysis (2000), Identities Across Texts (2002), and The Ethics of Nonfiction: Rhetoric, Ethos, and Identity (2023). In addition these scholarly works, he has written Some of the Words are Theirs: A Memoir of an Alcoholic Family (2009). He currently lives in Roanoke, Virginia. Heidi Skurat Harris is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Coordinator with the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is co-author (with Michael Greer) of Multimedia in the College Classroom: Improve Learning and Connect with Students in Online and Hybrid Classes (2024). She is also the lead editor of the Bedford Bibliography of Research in Online Writing Instruction (2017). She has published creative nonfiction and research on professional development.
