Overview

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traces Maclean’s revisions through four handwritten drafts and three typescripts, quoting extensively from previously unpublished material.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.”

Full Product Details

Author:   George H. Jensen ,  Heidi Skurat Harris
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.430kg
ISBN:  

9781032806983

ISBN 10:   1032806982
Pages:   212
Publication Date:   26 December 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Diplomatic Transcriptions, Citations from Maclean Papers, and Bibliographic Terms Foreword            Jean Maclean Snyder Preface Chapter 1: Maclean’s Improbable Writing Career Chapter 2: Evolution of the Beginning            The First Draft (MS1)            The Second Draft (MS2)            The Third Draft (MS3) and the Fourth Draft (MS4)            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            Life Span            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            A “Crude Version”            MS2B            Fair Copy            Revisions on Typescript Pages            Print Versions            Afterword Works Cited Appendix 1: Notes on Revising “Fly Fishing” (MS1) Appendix 2: Typescripts, Fonts, and Typists            Fonts and Typists            Rejected Type

Reviews

"" While reading Jensen and Harris, it's fascinating, inspiring, and sometimes downright disorienting to witness the story [""A River Runs through It""] develop from its most primitive state into its most beautiful and refined shape......Jensen and Harris have written a brilliant book that may inspire writers and serious Maclean readers all over the English-speaking world."" --Jim Hepworth, The Limberlost Review, 2025 Edition

Author Information

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.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions