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380 Western American Literature Fred Gipson at Work. By Glen E. Lich. (College Station: Texas A&M UP, 1990. 125 pages, $29.95.) Glen Lich, at the beginning of Fred Gipson at Work—where it should be —provides the thesis of this tightly crafted little book. In Gipson’s changing conception of his region, Lich sees the projection of “an alter ego of main­ stream America.” He will show that “Gipson’s histories and fiction look simul­ taneously to the past and to the future” and that in light of lives and writings of other Texas writers and public figures, “the study suggests a broad regional ethology” (ix). The chronology following the introductory material introduces Lich’s method. In 1900, eight years prior to Gipson’sbirth, the population of Texas is 82.9% rural. In 1970, three years before Gipson’s death, the population has become 80% urban. Opposite the biographical dates are references to the new emphasis in “scientific” farming; current cotton prices; publication dates of such figures as Dobie, Scarborough, Webb, Porter, and McMurtry; the passing of World Wars I and II; the first television station in Texas; the Farm-toMarket Road system; the change from the Kennedy to the Johnson presidency; and even the dates of such popular culture figures as Jimmy Rogers and Willie Nelson. The historical and biographical underpinnings are intriguing—and sug­ gest a rather ambitious project. The setup is also a preview of psychological and anthropological (demographical?) criticism. Lich’s critical treatments of individual works usually radiate outward toward his thesis though one waits until the last chapter and “Afterward” for an integrated summary analysis. Eliot’s idea of tradition (past) and the indi­ vidual talent (present and future) becomes a creative (ethological?) dialectic —this time set in Texas. Lich has a good eye for Gipson’sepigraphs and aphor­ isms; his chapters are readable, at times “well-spun.” Gipson, the product of Comanche Creek, takes his shapings and early données into a world of dynamic dichotomies as they appear in patterns of the rural-urban, the naive-sophisticated , and the academic-natural. Lich adroitly sketches Gipson’s “remember­ ing the land in the face of change, division, and ambivalence”(14) . He traces the aesthetic and moral development of an artist forced to use that land for spiritual and material sustenance—his works becoming an “alter ego” for the country and region going through the same struggles. The ninety-eight pages (plus notes and index) offer a stripped-to-thebone profile, sometimes poetically drawn, of Fred Gipson; of how his land, state, and nation dynamically metamorphose into the life and work. An ambi­ tious job by Prof. Lich, conscientiously done. One could wish for more here. Although Lich’s concision is his strong point, his last chapter, “Afterward,” and “Notes” deserve elaboration. The suggestiveness of the approach should inspire followups. LEE SCHULTZ Stephen F. Austin State University ...

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