Traces of Gold: California's Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature (American Literary Realism and Naturalism)

232 Pages·2001·1.04 MB·English

by  Nicolas Witschi

Traces of Gold
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Studies in American Literary Realism and Naturalism
series editor
Gary Scharnhorst
editorial board
Louis J. Budd
Donna Campbell
Everett Carter
John Crowley
Robert E. Fleming
Eric Haralson
Hamlin Hill
Katherine Kearns
Joseph McElrath
George Monteiro
Brenda Murphy
James Nagel
Alice Hall Petry
Donald Pizer
Tom Quirk
Jeanne Campbell Reesman
Ken Roemer
Susan Rosowski
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Traces of Gold
California’s Natural Resources and
the Claim to Realism in
Western American Literature
NICOLAS S. WITSCHI
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa and London
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Copyright © 2002
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Typeface: New Baskerville.
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The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Science–Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Witschi, Nicolas S., 1966–
Traces of gold : California’s natural resources and the claim to realism in western
American literature / Nicolas S. Witschi.
p. cm. — (Studies in American literary realism and naturalism)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195) and index.
ISBN 0-8173-1117-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. American literature—California—History and criticism. 2. Natural resources—
California. 3. California—In literature. 4. Realism in literature. 5. Nature in
literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PS283.C2 W58 2002
813.009′3278′09794—dc21
2001003184
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
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To Meg,
For the sheer joy of it.
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Contents
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction: The Genres of Realism
1
1. Bret Harte and the Gold Rush Claim to Realism
15
2. John of the Mines: Muir’s Picturesque Rewrite
of the Gold Rush
43
3. “Why, Have You Got the Atlantic Monthly Out Here?”
W. D. Howells, Realism, and the Idea of the West
66
4. 1902: The Generic Imagination in Transition
85
5. “I Know What Is Best for You”: Post-Howellsian Realism
in Mary Austin’s Desert Narratives
111
6. Hard-Boiled Nature: California, Detective Fiction, and
the Limits of Representation
139
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viii / Contents
Notes
167
Works Cited
195
Index
213
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Acknowledgments
A shorter version of chapter 2 appeared in the fall 1999 issue of West-
ern American Literature (34.3), and I am grateful to Melody Graulich
for permission to reprint it here. I also wish to thank Daryl Morrison of
the Special Collections Department at the University of the Paci¤c for
permission to quote from the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Depart-
ment of Special Collections, University of the Paci¤c Libraries, copyright
1984, Muir-Hanna Trust; and the Huntington Library, San Marino, Cali-
fornia, for a Frank Hideo Kono Research Fellowship that afforded me
time to study their Mary Austin Collection and for permission to publish
excerpts from the extensive archive.
This book would be a greatly diminished thing without the input of
the many wonderful friends and colleagues who, in some cases, read and
commented upon this project during its various stages and, in other
cases, challenged and inspired me with compelling conversations: Zeno
Ackermann, Mike “Dutch” Arnzen, Lawrence Berkove, Juliane Bier-
schenk, Donna Campbell, Curtis Clark (of The University of Alabama
Press), Matthew Dennis, Karsten Fitz, Udo Hebel, Sue Hodson, Arnie
Johnston, Mike Kowalewski, Nat Lewis, Glen Love, the Mesa Verde Col-
loquium, Tara Penry, Susan Rosowski, Greg Rucka, Heike Schaefer, John
Seelye, Andy Smith, Molly Westling, Christine and Hanspeter Witschi,
Laurence Witschi, and Harry Wonham. I reserve special gratitude for
Suzanne Clark, whose leadership, intellectual range, and scholarly integ-
rity have provided a model of academic excellence to which I continually
aspire; and for Gary Scharnhorst, the very model of a scholar and a gen-
tleman, whose guidance and insights on matters relating to both realism
and the West have been valuable beyond measure.
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