The autobiography has not always been acknowledged as true literature. Since 1970, however, American memoirs have revealed themselves as a respectable literary genre, distinct with an inimitable literary voice and a unique capacity to intersect narration and reflection.
This study focuses critical attention on ten memoirs from the northern U.S. Rockies, including Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. By comparing memoirs representing states that share similar demographic, ecological, and socio-economic characteristics, this historic and literary analysis reveals both commonalities and divergences among American Western memoirs. Each chapter compares two books of similar thematic concerns, ranging from regional values and rural evolution to dynamic landscapes and the experiences of American Indians.

Ron McFarland, the author of more than 20 books, is a professor of English at the University of Idaho.

Ron McFarland
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 219
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3717-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5163-0
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

1. The Genre of the Self      11

2. The Context of Northern Rockies Memoir      29

3. Ivan Doig and Mark Spragg: Fathers and Sons in Place      55

4. Mary Clearman Blew’s and Teresa Jordan’s Western Family Albums      77

5. Coming to Womanhood with Kim Barnes and Judy Blunt      100

6. The Indian Lives of Sidner J. Larson and Janet Campbell Hale      124

7. The Ecomemoirs of William Kittredge and Terry Tempest Williams      152

Conclusions and Speculations      176

Chapter Notes      185

Works Consulted      195

Index      203