Traces of Gold You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Studies in American Literary Realism and Naturalism series editor Gary Scharnhorst editorial board Louis J. Budd Donna Campbell Everett Carter John Crowley Robert E. Fleming Eric Haralson Hamlin Hill Katherine Kearns Joseph McElrath George Monteiro Brenda Murphy James Nagel Alice Hall Petry Donald Pizer Tom Quirk Jeanne Campbell Reesman Ken Roemer Susan Rosowski You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Traces of Gold California’s Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature NICOLAS S. WITSCHI The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa and London You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Copyright © 2002 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Typeface: New Baskerville. ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Science–Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Witschi, Nicolas S., 1966– Traces of gold : California’s natural resources and the claim to realism in western American literature / Nicolas S. Witschi. p. cm. — (Studies in American literary realism and naturalism) Includes bibliographical references (p. 195) and index. ISBN 0-8173-1117-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. American literature—California—History and criticism. 2. Natural resources— California. 3. California—In literature. 4. Realism in literature. 5. Nature in literature. I. Title. II. Series. PS283.C2 W58 2002 813.009′3278′09794—dc21 2001003184 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. To Meg, For the sheer joy of it. You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Genres of Realism 1 1. Bret Harte and the Gold Rush Claim to Realism 15 2. John of the Mines: Muir’s Picturesque Rewrite of the Gold Rush 43 3. “Why, Have You Got the Atlantic Monthly Out Here?” W. D. Howells, Realism, and the Idea of the West 66 4. 1902: The Generic Imagination in Transition 85 5. “I Know What Is Best for You”: Post-Howellsian Realism in Mary Austin’s Desert Narratives 111 6. Hard-Boiled Nature: California, Detective Fiction, and the Limits of Representation 139 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. viii / Contents Notes 167 Works Cited 195 Index 213 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Acknowledgments A shorter version of chapter 2 appeared in the fall 1999 issue of West- ern American Literature (34.3), and I am grateful to Melody Graulich for permission to reprint it here. I also wish to thank Daryl Morrison of the Special Collections Department at the University of the Paci¤c for permission to quote from the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Depart- ment of Special Collections, University of the Paci¤c Libraries, copyright 1984, Muir-Hanna Trust; and the Huntington Library, San Marino, Cali- fornia, for a Frank Hideo Kono Research Fellowship that afforded me time to study their Mary Austin Collection and for permission to publish excerpts from the extensive archive. This book would be a greatly diminished thing without the input of the many wonderful friends and colleagues who, in some cases, read and commented upon this project during its various stages and, in other cases, challenged and inspired me with compelling conversations: Zeno Ackermann, Mike “Dutch” Arnzen, Lawrence Berkove, Juliane Bier- schenk, Donna Campbell, Curtis Clark (of The University of Alabama Press), Matthew Dennis, Karsten Fitz, Udo Hebel, Sue Hodson, Arnie Johnston, Mike Kowalewski, Nat Lewis, Glen Love, the Mesa Verde Col- loquium, Tara Penry, Susan Rosowski, Greg Rucka, Heike Schaefer, John Seelye, Andy Smith, Molly Westling, Christine and Hanspeter Witschi, Laurence Witschi, and Harry Wonham. I reserve special gratitude for Suzanne Clark, whose leadership, intellectual range, and scholarly integ- rity have provided a model of academic excellence to which I continually aspire; and for Gary Scharnhorst, the very model of a scholar and a gen- tleman, whose guidance and insights on matters relating to both realism and the West have been valuable beyond measure. You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press.