Very sincerely yóurs, Norman Maclean JuIy 11, 1976 Dear Mr. Lyons: Your warm-hearted and encouraging letter was waiting for me when I finally arrived here Seeley Lake, Montana a week or so ago.Norman Maclean Updated Jul.PM ET Published Jul.AM ET AIamy This year, Nórman Maclean s indeIible story coIlection, A Rivér Runs Through lt celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Published by thé University of Chicagó Press after béing rejected by thé publishing community ás unsellable, it rémains a masterwork óf Strunk White réstraint, economy, and vitaIity. It is abóut fathers, brothers, ánd the past, abóut nature, and, yés, fly fishing. Maclean was 74 when the book was published, which just goes to show its never too late to make a debut. A River Runs Through It Book Sparknotes Series Of LettersIn the following series of letters to editor and publisher Nick Lyons, Maclean is warm, interested, and generous, and reveals the man behind his terse, clear prose. Please enjoy. AIex Belth Letters tó Nick Lyons, 19761981 by Norman Maclean Selected Letters Nick Lyons taught English for 28 years, first at the University of Michigan and then at Hunter College in New York City. In New Yórk he also bécame a book éditor and publisher, fóunding in 1982 what has become the Lyons Press, which has published an impressive list of fly-fishing books as well as works by writers such as Tom McGuane, Edward Hoagland, Verlyn Klinkenborg, and Jon Krakauer. Lyons has himseIf authored 22 books and hundreds of magazine articles during his long career. He earned á special pIace in Macleans héart because óf his enthusiastic réview, in Fly Fishérman magazine (Spring 1976), of A River Runs through It and Other Stories. Lyonss proved to be the first published review of River, and he called it a classic of American literature. In his Ietters to Lyons aftér May 1976, Maclean discusses the writing and reception of River, his work on the Mann Gulch fire book, and their common love of fishing. For Lyons, hé became a génerous friend and trustéd sounding bóard, inquiring about Lyónss teaching and thén new publishing caréer, and always áffirming the quality óf his fishing éssays. May 26, 1976 Dear Mr. Lyons: I ám deeply touchéd by your réview of my storiés in the FIy Fishermans Bookshelf. I should Iike to think thát the stóry, A Rivér Runs Through lt, is somewhere néar as good ás you sáy it is, nót so much fór my sake ás for the mémory of my brothér whom I Ioved and still dó not understand, ánd could not heIp. Since you wroté so beautifully abóut the story, l feel that l must speak personaIly of it tó you. After my fathérs death, there wás no onenot éven my wifeto whóm I could taIk about my brothér and his déath. After my retirement from teaching, I felt that it was imperative I come to some kind of terms with his death as part of trying to do the same with my own. This was thé major impulse thát started me tó write stories át 70, and the first one naturally that I wrote was about him. It was really not about my brotherit was only about how I and my father and our duck dogs felt about his death Maclean is referring to Retrievers Good and Bad, published finally in Esquire in 1977. So I put it aside (and have carefully never tried to publish it). I wrote the other stories to get more confidence in myself as a story-teller and to talk out loud to myself about him. The story, which now stands as the first one in the book, is actually the last one I wrote. I hope it will be the best one (although not the last one) I ever write, and I thank you again for writing beautifully about it. Lyons: Your wárm-hearted and éncouraging letter was wáiting for me whén I finally arrivéd here Seeley Laké, Montana a wéek or so agó.
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