Research in Western American Literature: 1982

R I C H A R D H. C R A C R O F T Brigham Young University Research in Western American Literature: 1982 Most of this year’soffering of masters’theses and doctoral dissertations in western Americana are in non-literary, primarily historical fields. But though the offerings in literature are sparse, they seem intriguing — par­ ticularly Arthur Ray Broten’s dissertation on the novels of the fur trade. And the range is interesting, as well as revelatory of current interests: Willa Cather leads the list by being featured in at least five dissertations, with Cooper being treated in four, Guthrie in three, and with Thoreau, Norris and Kerouac in at least two studies each. The one solitary offering on Mark Twain — and that one not about the West — troubles us Twain aficionados, though we are heartened to read of studies of Steinbeck, Garland, London, Horgan, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Wright Morris, and Nathanael West — and intrigued by the dissertation comparing Gide and Cather. Interest in women’s studies continues; and this year we have apparent first-time consideration of such relatively unknown writers as Rudy Wiebe, Kermit Hunter, and Edwin Way Teale. Still, the field con­ tinues relatively unharvested. Kindly send notices of completed or in-progress masters’ theses or doctoral dissertations on western Americana and literature to Dr. Richard H. Cracroft, Dean, College of Humanities, 2054 Jesse Knight Humanities Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. 336 Western American Literature MASTER’S THESES COMPLETED: Murphy, John T. “In A Perfect Oregon Fever” : Myth and Symbol in the Oregon Trail Novel (M.A.) Northern Arizona University, 1981. (Studies Guthrie’sThe Way West, Binns’s The Land isBright and Hough’s The Covered Wagon.) Murphy, Patrick D. “Quest for Place”;The Poetry of Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry (M.A.) University of California, Davis, 1983. DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS COMPLETED: Abbe, Donald Ray Austin and the Reese River Mining District: Nevada’s Forgotten Frontier (Ph.D.) Texas Tech University, 1982. Bird, Roy Kennedy Wright Morris: Imaginative Transformations of Commonplace, the Past, and Language (Ph.D.) Rice University, 1982. Broten, Arthur Ray Twentieth-Century Novels of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade: Toward a Definition of the Form (Ph.D.) University of California, Santa Barbara, 1980. (Includes a brief history of the fur trade and a discussion of some 17 novels central to the form.) Brundage, David Thomas The Making of Working-Class Radicalism in the Mountain West: Denver, Colorado, 1880-1903 (Ph.D.) University of California, Los Angeles, 1982. Carpenter, David Allen William Everson: Poet of Extremity (Ph.D.) University of Oregon, 1982. (Everson’searly poetry was written in the San Joaquin Valley.) Chase, Thomas Christopher Christian Frederick Post, 1715-1785: Missionary and Diplomat to the Indians of America (D.Ed.) Pennsylvania State University, 1982. Research 337 Cornell, George Leslie Native American Contributions to the Formation of the Modern Conservative Ethic (Ph.D.) Michigan State University, 1982. Crouther, Lou-Ann Returning Home: Heroines as Rebuilders and Victims in American Fiction Written by Women (Ph.D.) Indiana University, 1982. (Treats, among others, Cather’sMy Antonia.) Dunlop, Mary Helen Midwestern Landscapes: Nineteenth-Century Literature of the American Prairie (Ph.D.) George Washington University, 1982. Engell, John Frederick Brackenridge, Brown, Cooper, and the Roots of the American Novel (Ph.D.) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1982. Evans, Constantine “The Origin of the Nation” : Time and History in Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales (Ph.D.) Syracuse University, 1981. Foreman, Ruth Jeane The Fiction of Bess Streeter Aldrich (D.A.) Drake University, 1982. Gallagher, Mary Cathleen From Natty to Bigger: The Innocent Criminal in American Fiction (Ph.D.) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1981. (Treats, among others, The Pioneers.) Gjerde, Jon Alan Peasants to Bourgeoisie: The Migration from Balestrand, Norway to the Upper Middle West (Ph.D.) University of Minnesota, 1982. Graves, William Hilton The Evolution of American Indian Policy: From Colonial Times to the Florida Treaty (1819) (Ph.D.) Florida State University, 1982. Habic, Robert David The History and Achievement of the Western Messenger, 1835-1841 (Ph.D.) Pennsylvania State University, 1982. Hansen, Terry Lee Paul Horgan’sSouthwestern Fiction: A Reader-ResponseApproach to The Peachstone, Far From Cibola, A Distant Trumpet, and White Water (Ph...