Leaders: Re: Wallace Stegner

Miles Seeley, a Wallace Stegner student, writes:

"Did I ever tell you how Stegner started his beginning Creative Writing class? He perched on the corner of the desktop and said, "If you came here thinking I would read and critique your lovely little poems and short stories, you were wrong. Here we will examine how the really good writers did it, in the hope that you will learn something about how to proceed. If this does not meet your expectations, you are free to leave now," or words to that effect. A few did drop out, but for those of us who stayed, it was the start of a fine experience.

Stegner was the first one I heard talk about the fragility of the American West. He said that there was an average of only about 1/4 inch of topsoil in the Mountain West, and that rainfall and water reserves were scarce. If the land were heavily developed, he feared the worst.