“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing”
–opening lines
Anyone who has ever gone fly fishing knows it to be a complex art –almost spiritual in nature. Fly fishing forces a person to slow down, find rhythm, and discover patience with harmony and nature. In Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, which was mysteriously denied the Pulitzer Prize in 1977, Maclean offers a short novella that mines the depths of this delicate art as a grounding for his own autobiography. In the book, fly fishing serves as a kind of metaphor for the imperfect nature of human beings (a theological notion first propounded by Maclean’s deeply pious father).
This novella is less a panoramic tour through the scenic landscapes of “big sky country” and more an intimate meditation on Maclean’s upbringing and his family, especially his relationship with his brother. Maclean describes how he worked for a newspaper in Helena where he first honed his writing craft. We meet his Presbyterian minister father who teaches his boys how to fly fish, and his brother Paul who is often-drunk and gambling while maintaining a strict fishing regimen. A significant portion of the story unfolds like an extended recollection of a fly fishing misadventure with Maclean’s frivolous brother-in-law who winds up laying drunk, sunburned, and naked with a prostitute beside the river. The story highlights both Norman’s and his brother Paul’s sacred connection to the river and its fish in contrast to an outsider who disgraces and disrespects it. This scene serves to emphasize what Maclean regards as sacrosanct. The river serves as a singular constant backdrop throughout his life –it continues flowing and he continues fishing.
This short, tearful book ends in sorrow as Maclean, his father, and his brother all venture out fishing one last time together, and they observe Paul’s superior skills when he catches his “limit” (his biggest fish) in the river. Maclean reflects on the enthusiasm within his family in one shimmering moment of nostalgia. Little did the trio know it was to be the last time they ever fished together. The final words of Paul echo in Maclean’s mind: “just give me three more years before I can learn to think like a fish… just give me three more years…” Shortly thereafter, Paul is found dead, the result of an apparent bar room fight. Paul’s shocking death leaves Maclean and his father burdened and fatigued with life. Norman’s father suggests that Norman start writing fiction because “only then will you understand what happened and why. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us” (104).
The concluding paragraphs are some of the most darkly beautiful in the whole novella:
“Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.
Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn’t. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and the memories of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters” (104).
Notable Quotations:
“‘Remember,’ as my father kept saying, ‘it is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o’clock'” (4).
“Fishing is a world created apart from all others, and inside it are special worlds of their own -one is fishing for big fish in small water where there is not enough world and water to accomadate a fish and a fisherman” (40).
“The cast is so soft and slow that it can be followed like an ash settling from a fireplace chimney. One of life’s quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful, even if it is only floating ash” (43).
“…part of the way to know a thing is through its death” (62).
The 1977 Pulitzer Prize Controversy
A River Runs Through It was widely praised it upon release. According to several news publications at the time, the Pulitzer Prize jury’s primary recommendation in 1977 was for A River Runs Through It. The second choice was October Light by John Gardner, followed by The Franchiser by Stanley Elkin. However, for reasons that still remain elusive, the Pulitzer Board rejected the jury’s recommendations and no official Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded in 1977. There has been speculation that the prize was not awarded in 1977 due to a health emergency. One of the three fiction jurists, Jean Stafford, a novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize herself in 1970, suffered a stroke while the jury was studying entries (click here to read my review of her Pulitzer Prize-winning collected short stories). However, this does not appear to be the case. The truth of the Board’s deliberations in 1977 remain somewhat mysterious.
Richard T. Baker, a long-time journalism professor at Columbia University who succeeded John Hohenberg as Secretary of the Pulitzer Advisory Board that year, administered the prizes on behalf of Columbia University in 1977 and stated that no prize was given in the Fiction category because no recommendation “was clearly leading the pack.” He described 1977 as a “thin year, not a banner year” for both fiction as well as the category of international reporting.
The 1977 Fiction Jury consisted of three returning members (Maurice Dolbier and Jean Stafford both previously served together on the Fiction jury in 1972, while Herman Kogan had served on the 1973 Fiction jury):
- Chair: Herman Kogan (1914-1989) spent 50 years covering the city of Chicago for the Chicago Daily News as a cultural news editor and the Chicago Sun-Times where he was a drama critic and editor of “Book Week.” He was an alumnus of the University of Chicago (1936) and authored some sixteen books primarily about the history, culture, institutions, and personalities of Chicago. Upon his death in 1989, Kogan was survived by his wife and two sons. His papers are held at the Newberry Library, an independent research library in Chicago.
- Maurice Dolbier (1912-1993) was a former book editor of The New York Herald Tribune and The Providence Journal-Bulletin. He became literary editor of The Providence Journal in 1951 and a book reviewer at The Tribune in 1956, but returned to The Journal in 1967 after The Tribune and its successor, The World Journal Tribune, closed. He was fondly remembered as an “intellectual with a dashing mustache” by one of his successors Alan Rosenberg at The Journal. He retired in 1985. Dolbier was also an actor and a writer of children’s books. He wrote two novels, six children’s books (including The Magic Bus), and several plays. For many years, Dolbier co-hosted a “Book and Author” Luncheon with Irita Van Doren (who also previously served on several Pulitzer Fiction juries from 1961-1963). The luncheon was sponsored by The New York Herald Tribune and then later the American Booksellers Association. Dolbier died in 1993 and was survived by two daughters.
- Jean Stafford (1915-1979) was a celebrated American writer. She published several novels but it was actually her short stories that earned her widespread critical acclaim. In 1955, she won an O. Henry Award for her short story “In the Zoo.” In 1970, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her collected short stories. She and Maurice Dolbier had both previously served on the 1972 Fiction jury together. Click here for my full review of her Pulitzer Prize victory in 1970.
Herman Kogan first learned of Jean Stafford’s health issues from Rose Valenstein (former assistant to the previous Pulitzer Prize Administrator John Hohenberg who retired that same year and was replaced by Richard T. Baker). As stated in a letter, Kogan then spoke with Maurice Dolbier and together they ranked their joint top choices for the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. Their list included: 1) A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, 2) October Light by John Gardner, and 3) The Franchiser by Stanley Elkin. Prior to Jean Stafford’s illness, she had been inclined toward Stanley Elkin’s The Franchiser, however she did not get the chance to read either the Gardner or Maclean works. We may only speculate as to where she might have landed on those. But that didn’t stop her from writing to Herman Kogan saying she would “agree to anything” while also candidly adding “what I won’t agree to ever again is being a member of a jury if it involves reading novels.”
Apparently, Herman Kogan also had some health issues, suffering from cardiac troubles during this review season. After a trip to the hospital, he retired to “snowbound Michigan” which allowed him to read more of the entries. Of the task assigned to the jury members he wrote to Richard T. Baker complaining: “I’ve been a member and chairman of several Pulitzer Prize juries in the last decade or so and I agree with her [Jean Stafford] that the task of plowing through a mass of novels, some of which should never have been published let alone submitted, is pretty arduous.”
Hopefully, in future years the true reason for the Pulitzer Prize’s snub of Norman Maclean in 1977 will be revealed to the public. Some people have speculated that A River Runs Through It is more of a memoir, and therefore not eligible for the Fiction prize. Apparently when A River Runs Through It was finished, three New York publishers turned it down on the grounds of it being a “western” (the book would later be published by the University of Chicago Press, the publisher’s only fiction work up until that point). One of the New York publishers who rejected the book pointed out that “These stories have trees in them” –as if to criticize the book for its descriptions of flora. Apparently, Pete Dexter (writing in Esquire in 1981) later speculated that: “I know just enough about the Pulitzer people to guess that what happened was that one of them noticed the trees too. The movie offers came in anyway.” I am not entirely clear on this controversy involving the “trees” but if any readers of this humble blog happen to know further details about the 1977 Pulitzer snub, please feel free to contact me. Notably, 1977 was the last year the Pulitzer Prize neglected to select an awardee in the Fiction category for several decades before the infamous snub in 2012.
Additionally in 1977, a special Pulitzer Prize was granted to Alex Haley in recognition of his epic bestseller Roots which traces seven generations of an African American family in America.
Note: this year was when I began noticing the name Robin Holloway start to appear in the Pulitzer Prize records. Perhaps Robin Hollway was a second administrative role supporting Rose Valenstein and the administrator, Richard T. Baker.
Who Is Norman Maclean?
While A River Runs Through It offers the best insight into the life of Norman Maclean, I offer a terse overview of the author’s life below. Norman Maclean (1902-1990) was considered by some to be the patron writer of the state of Montana. He was born in Iowa and grew up in Missoula. In his early years, he worked for the U.S. Forest Department, an experience he later wrote about in two of the stories featured in the A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.
Maclean graduated from Dartmouth College in 1924 and married Jess Burns in 1931. He enrolled in graduate school to study English at The University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in 1940. He taught courses on the Romantic poets and Shakespeare, before earning a full professorship and becoming Dean of Students. Many prominent Americans took classes with “Stormin’ Norman” and his classes were often highly sought-after (some critics have grouped him in among the neo-Aristotelians of the 20th century at The University of Chicago). U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens once credited professor Maclean as “the teacher to whom I am most indebted.”
Upon his retirement in 1974, Maclean’s two children encouraged him to write down the stories he often told them. In 1976, he published A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, a collection of three short stories, but the most prominent of the three is his memoir novella, “A River Runs Through It.” The book was the first work of fiction published by the University of Chicago Press.
Maclean spent his later years attempting to complete another book about the 1949 Mann Gulch Forest Fire, a wildfire that destroyed thousands of acres in Helena National Forest along the upper Missouri River. The book was published posthumously as Young Men and Fire (1992). Norman Maclean died in Chicago in 1990. In 1992, following Maclean’s death, the film rights to A River Runs Through It were purchased by Robert Redford and it was made into a Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt. The film version is sentimental and nostalgic, but it takes significant departures from the novella in order to expand the narrative.
Maclean, Norman. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition. University of Chicago Press, 2001.