Matt Stewart on Wallace Stegner

Matt Stewart on Wallace Stegner

Author: frontporchrepublic August 23, 2022 Duration: 39:37
Matthew Stewart, author of The Most Beautiful Place on Earth:  Wallace Stegner in California, sits down (literally) with host John Murdock to discuss Stegner’s complicated relationship with the American West.  A mobile youth left Stegner yearning for deeper roots.  In the 1940s, he landed in the hills surrounding San Francisco Bay, an area soon set for expansive growth.  Stegner’s interplay with the region and his own personal history led to the Pulitzer Prize winning Angle of Repose, a National Book Award for The Spectator Bird, and his masterful final work Crossing to Safety.  Stewart, who received his Ph.D. in history from Syracuse, digs deeply into Stegner’s prose, places, and personal archives to document this quest for home. Host:     John Murdock Guest:  Matthew Stewart   Highlights 2:00       Stewart, man of Geneva and Idaho 5:00       Wallace Stegner 101 7:00       “Geography of hope” and other famous phrases 7:45       A sharp dressed man in the eyes of his student, Wendell Berry 9:30       Ranking the novels 11:30    Mary Hallock Foote controversy 14:00    Life story of a Silicon Valley pioneer 16:45    Family’s outlaw life and death 18:30    California here he comes 19:45    Utopian suburban dreams 22:15    Searching for substance in a “formless non-community” 26:00    Anguished questions of the 1960s 30:15    Fan mail from frustrated parents 33:00    Stuck in Vermont 36:00    Edward Abbey sets the scene 38:00    Finding beauty in the places we know     Resources Buy the book Stewart’s bio at FPR Stegner’s Wilderness Letter Mary Hallock Foote matter still controversial in 2022 A piece on Stegner and his students Wendell Kimbrough helps us find our way home

There’s a certain kind of conversation that happens best when you’re not in a hurry, when the topic can wander from the headlines of the day to the deeper questions that have always shaped how we live together. The Brass Spittoon is built for that kind of talk. Hosted by the folks at Front Porch Republic, this podcast serves as a gathering spot for discussions rooted in the tangible realities of our lives-our connections to a specific place, the practical limits we encounter, and what genuine liberty means within that framework. Each episode feels less like a lecture and more like joining a thoughtful, meandering dialogue among friends who aren’t afraid to chew over ideas from both the past and the present. You’ll hear explorations of culture, community, and the small-scale practices that build a durable society, all approached with a sense of curiosity and a lack of pretense. It’s for anyone weary of abstract debates and hungry for conversations grounded in the texture of everyday life. So, pull up a chair and settle in; this is where we consider how to live well, right where we are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 32

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