Thursday, August 15, 2024

June from Cathy - Norman Maclean






Back to back envelopes from Cathy along with swatches to show what colors she used. I'm a broken record about getting my nibs and ink out. But, August and September are already looking over booked.

***
If anyone has read the only two books that Norman Maclean wrote, you might want to read a book written by someone who connected with him on two levels. Norman Maclean: a life of letters and rivers by Rebecca McCarthy

Norman is best known for his book, A River Runs Through It. The movie might be better known than the book - and I have not seen the movie - but he was careful to wait for a film maker that he trusted and Norman's children think he would have approved of it.

One of the many interesting things about him is that he taught writing at the U of Chicago and received many accolades for his teaching on how to write - but he didn't write a book until after he retired. He created a genre where it is fiction, but quite a bit of the book is based on his own life. The McCarthy book has insights into the reasoning behind morphing a generous amount of true story into fiction.

Norman wrote a second book that I can recommend - Young Men and Fire, about a tragic loss of some young men who were fighting a fire in Montana. He grew up in Montana and spent summers on Seeley Lake. He spent many years on the book and did not have a final manuscript when he died, but it was edited and published and is very well written.

The book I just read, by Rebecca McCarthy who knew him, also took a very long time to write. I can't really decide if it would be better to read about Norman first - and then read his books - or the other way around. 

I remember when A River Runs Through It was recommended to me - by a guy who was an artist - and he said, "Don't be misled by the impression that it is a book about fly-fishing - it is so much more." 






 

No comments:

Post a Comment