Zane Grey (35 page)
READING GROUP GUIDE
How does blindness, both literal and metaphorical, function in the novel?
What is the role of the setting and landscape?
What is the significance of the many references to the “unseen hand”?
How is the West represented in the novel?
Literary critic Jane Tompkins has argued that “metamorphosis is what the novel strives for and enacts at every level. You can see it not only in the relation between character and landscape, but also in the constant boundary-crossing that takes place within and between characters.” Discuss.
Whose worldview wins and why?
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ZANE GREY
Zane Grey, the popular American novelist and essayist who became known as the father of the Western, was born Pearl Zane Gray on January 31, 1872, to Josephine and Lewis Gray (he later dropped “Pearl” and changed the
a
in Gray to
e
). Raised in Zanesville, Ohio, where his family's history dated back to the Revolution, Grey was more interested in sports and nature than in academic studies. In his teens, Grey wrote a short story, “Jim of the Cave,” which his father destroyed. Soon afterward, he began working with his father, a dentist, and started a short-lived, unlicensed dental practice. Grey was unenthusiastic about following his father's career, but when he received a baseball scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania, he continued studying dentistry; upon graduation in 1896, he opened a practice in New York City.
During these years Grey struggled with his career and with bouts of depression. He often spent weekends away from the city, returning to the outdoor activities that he enjoyed. On one trip in 1900 he met Lina Elise Roth (whom he called Dolly), his future wife, and other travels provided the fodder for Grey's first article, “A Day on the Delaware,” which was published in 1902. By the following year, Grey had completed his first novel,
Betty Zane,
a historical romance based on one of his ancestors. This first attempt was rejected by publishers, and Grey finally published it himself to little fanfare. Undeterred, Grey wrote two more novels,
The Spirit of the Border
and
The Last Trail,
over the next few years, but both were unsuccessful.
By this time, Grey had decided to give up dentistry. He married Lina Roth in 1905, and they bought a home in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. Grey's wife encouraged his career as a writer, often acting as his copy editor and, later, business partner. Her inheritance also made possible Grey's trip to Arizona in 1907, which would prove to be important to his writing career. With “Buffalo” Jones, Grey spent weeks exploring the West, and when he returned home he completed
The
Last of the Plainsmen
in 1908. While this work was also rejected and his family's finances were tight, Grey was convinced that he should continue telling stories about the West; he was also spurred on by the sale of several magazine articles and a juvenile book about baseball. In 1909, the Greys had a son, Romer.
Grey's next Western,
The Heritage of the Desert
(1910), marked a turning point in his career. It was accepted by Harper and Brothers, serialized by
Popular Magazine,
and received well by readers. As a romance of the American West, this novel set a pattern for Grey's future fiction, in which the landscape is a dominating influence. He continued to work on magazine articles and juvenile adventure books and became a highly productive writer.
Riders of the Purple Sage,
the Western many critics consider his best, appeared in 1912. Grey's passionate tale of a pious Mormon woman and a gunslinging hero who rescues her found favorable reviews and remarkable sales. Grey's daughter, Elizabeth, was born that same year.
The following years were busy for Grey: he traveled extensively and wrote successfully, and he and his wife had a third child, Loren, in 1915. The novels he published included
Desert Gold
(1913),
The Light
of Western Stars
(1914),
The Lone Star Ranger
(1915),
The Rainbow Trail
(1915), The Border Legion (1916), Wildfire (1917), and The U.P. Trail (1918). Most sold well, and some hit the bestseller lists; The U.P. Trail, which portrayed the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, was the top-selling book of the year. As the popularity of Grey's simple and sincere stories increased, his books became Hollywood films.
Grey moved his family to Altadena, California, in 1918. When he was not writing, he was most often fishing, and he combined the two interests in books such as
Tales of Fishes
(1919). He remained most popular for his fiction, which over the next few years included the bestsellers
The Desert of Wheat
(1919),
The Man of the Forest
(1920),
The
Mysterious Rider (1921), To the Last Man (1922), Wanderer of the Wasteland (1923), and
The Call of the Canyon
(1924). Grey purchased a boat on which he had adventures that became the basis for numerous articles published in
Ladies' Home Journal, Country Gentleman,
and
McCall's.
His fame reached its height in the 1920s; 1925 was one of Grey's best years both financially and creatively. That year the now wealthy author published
The Thundering Herd,
a story about buffalo hunting, and
The Vanishing American,
a novel with social overtones that expressed sympathy toward the plight of Native Americans. He traveled widely during the later part of the decade and completed two Westerns,
Nevada
and
Wild
Horse Mesa,
in 1928.
As the depression of the 1930s wore on, Grey felt its pinch. Many of the magazines that had published his stories in the past could not afford his high rates, and serializations of his books became impossible to sell. Though his popularity was beginning to wane, Grey wrote many more novels, such as
Arizona Ames
(1932),
The Hash Knife Outfit
(1933),
Code of the West
(1934),
The Trail Driver
(1936) and
Raiders of
Spanish Peaks
(1938).
Grey continued to travel and write, but his health was failing. He published
Western Union,
a historical novel about the telegraph, in 1939, then suffered a fatal heart attack on October 23 of that year.
Although Grey received more popular acclaim than critical recognition, his descriptive storytelling, traditional values, and passion for the American West made him one of the most widely read novelists of the twentieth century; he produced more than sixty books and reached an audience of millions. His romantic vision of the West has endured in a plethora of film adaptations and posthumously published books, which include
30,000 on the Hoof
(1940),
The Maverick Queen
(1950), and
Boulder Dam
(1963).
2002 Modern Library Paperback Edition
Biographical note, explanatory notes, and Note on the Text
copyright © 2002 by Random House, Inc.
Introduction copyright © 2002 by William R. Handley
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Modern Library, a division of Random House, Inc.,
New York.
MODERN LIBRARY and the TORCHBEARER Design are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grey, Zane, 1872â1939.
Riders of the purple sage / Zane Grey; introduction and notes by William R. Handley. p. cm.
1. Women ranchersâFiction. 2. Mormon womenâFiction. 3. PolygamyâFiction.
4. UtahâFiction. I. Handley, William R. II. Title.
PS3513.R6545 R5 2002b
813'.52âdc21
2002026599
Modern Library website address:
www.modernlibrary.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-43170-7
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