Vardis Fisher (1895–1968)
Auteur van Mountain Man
Over de Auteur
Vardis Fisher was the author of more than thirty-five books, including "Tale of Valor: A Novel of the Lewis & Clark Expedition", "Children of God: An American Epic", "Pemmican", & (with Opal Laurel Holmes) "Gold Rushes & Mining Camps of the Early American West". 050
Fotografie: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Reeksen
Werken van Vardis Fisher
No Villain Need Be 9 exemplaren
Passions Spin the Plot 7 exemplaren
God or Caesar? The writing of fiction for beginners 5 exemplaren
Toilers of the Hills 2 exemplaren
Toiler of the Hills. 2 exemplaren
Thomas Wolfe as I knew him, and other essays 1 exemplaar
April: A Fable of Love 1 exemplaar
Hvorfor piner du mig? 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
Direction, Vol 1 No 1 (Autumn 1934) — Medewerker — 1 exemplaar
Direction Vol.1 No.3 (April-June 1935) — Medewerker — 1 exemplaar
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Gangbare naam
- Fisher, Vardis
- Officiële naam
- Fisher, Vardis Alvero
- Geboortedatum
- 1895-03-31
- Overlijdensdatum
- 1968-07-09
- Graflocatie
- Hagerman, Idaho, USA
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Annis, Idaho, USA
- Plaats van overlijden
- Hagerman, Idaho, USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Annis, Idaho, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
New York, New York, USA
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Boise, Idaho, USA
Hagerman, Idaho, USA - Opleiding
- University of Utah (AB ∙ 1920)
University of Chicago (MA ∙ 1922)
University of Chicago (PhD ∙ 1925) - Beroepen
- writer
professor (English) - Organisaties
- University of Utah
New York University
Federal Writers' Project
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Prijzen en onderscheidingen
- Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (1966)
Director of the Idaho Writer's Project for the WPA
Harper's Prize in Fiction for "The Children of God" (1939)
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Besprekingen
Prijzen
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Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
- Werken
- 42
- Ook door
- 10
- Leden
- 770
- Populariteit
- #33,051
- Waardering
- 4.1
- Besprekingen
- 16
- ISBNs
- 49
- Talen
- 1
- Favoriet
- 4
In the late 1890s, Charlie Bridwell marries a woman more than ten years his junior and persuades her to go with him to a farm he has purchased in the Snake River Valley of Idaho. To call it a valley is misleading: the narrow gorge where the farm exists leaves nothing more than a small ledge with enough soil for planting. There are no real neighbors; the Bridwells see only a few other people during their years on this farm, and when they do see a gathering of other people at one point, it is only because they have traveled a long way to meet them. The consequent loneliness of the Bridwell farm is palpable and can only be overcome fleetingly by Charlie 19s attempts to keep his young family amused.
Charlie is a muscular but lazy man who regards subsistence farming as an easy way to get by in this world. For him, the farm only needs to be productive enough to support four people. Although he does sell a few things to make ends meet, he is not ambitious and has little interest in growing things to sell as a business that might raise his family above their relative poverty. Charlie is what, today, we would call a control freak. His worst fear is that his wife and his two sons will realize that the sacrifices they have made by isolating themselves from the wider world 14all to support his laziness 14are no longer tolerable to them. To keep them from wising up, he by turns distracts, cajoles, and bullies them into submission. In a memorable scene in which he distracts them, he picks up and hurls logs down a mountain slope, making great, explosive splashes in the lake below. It should be enough to make an environmentalist cringe as Charlie 19s stunt does potentially irreparable damage to the environment for no other purpose than to amuse his family.
Charlie 19s wife, Lila, suffers quietly for decades as she does most of the hard work that sustains her husband 19s life style, and their sons grow up cowed by his bullying and learning to take their anger out on each other and anybody or anything that crosses their paths. A most memorable part of the book is that in which Jed, the meaner of the two brothers, almost literally goes to war with nature, girding himself in home-made armor to battle with insects, setting traps and chasing pesky varmints with his rifle, and even fighting against the rocks and trees around him.
With characteristic self-deprecation, the author casts his own alter ego, Vridar Hunter (get it? Vardis Fisher=Vridar Hunter?), in the minor role of the boy who lives on the only other farm within many miles of the Bridwell place, and his only function is to be the butt of the Bridwell brothers 19 bullying.
Charlie gets his comeuppances at last. His wife rebels and leaves him, and his sons go their separate ways, only returning near the end to get even with their abusive father. As his world comes crashing down, though, Charlie ultimately proves to be an irrepressible type who seems to rebound as he resolves to lead a solitary wilderness life. He doesn 19t need anybody else, he thinks, even though he has spent decades using up the energies of those closest to him.… (meer)