A. B. Guthrie: A Bibliography

R I C H A R D W. E T U L A I N Dartmouth College A. B. Guthrie: A Bibliography A. B. Guthrie is a myth breaker. Along with Walter Van Tilburg Clark, H. L. Davis, Vardis Fisher, Conrad Richter, and Frank Waters, he is helping to rid Western literature of the Wild West image that Zane Grey and Max Brand introduced and solidi­ fied during the opening years of this century. To replace the singing six guns and flashing fists of the Western, Guthrie has substituted a more sophisticated and persuasive Western novel. From his life-long reading of western journals and diaries, Guthrie has constructed novels on a foundation of well-researched historical fact. Upon this solid base he has built his fictional edifices from the lumber of human experience. This judicious juxtaposition of history and imagination is sufficient reason to rank him among the first-rate western historical novelists. Bom and reared near the small frontier town of Choteau, Montana, Guthrie has had a continuous love affair with the Treasure State. He has never been able to leave completely—physically or spiritually. Although he took up residence as a newspaperman in the late 20’s in Kentucky, he and his family have returned many summers to Montana. It has been the setting and inspiration for nearly all his writing. Aside from his three major novels— The Big Sky (1947), The Way West (1949), and These Thousand Hills (1956), Guthrie has turned out three other volumes. They are Murders at Moon Dance (1943), a melodramatic first novel; The Big It and Other Stories (1960), a group of shorter historical pieces; and The Blue H en’s Chick (1965), his autobiography. Recently, he has retired to Mon­ tana, where he resides in Missoula in the winter and delights in living in his cabin near Choteau during the summer. Although he has written little fiction in the last decade, Guthrie is now work­ 134 Western American Literature ing on a play dealing with the life of George Rogers Clark. Also he hopes soon to start and complete the fourth volume of his Western tetralogy, a novel that would portray the homestead period of Montana before 1920. When completed the work will be a fitting capstone to his literary career. Guthrie has won the Pulitzer Prize and the acclaim of many reviewers, but he has received little attention in scholarly journals. The following bibliography is intended to help remedy this over­ sight. The listing does not include his newspaper work or the several movie scripts in which he has had a hand. Reviews, for the most part, have been omitted. There is no collection of Guthrie’s manuscript materials, although he has promised them to the Uni­ versity of Kentucky Library. Books The Big It and Other Stories (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960). The Big Sky (New York: William Sloane Associates, 1947). The Blue Hen’s Chick (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965). Murders at Moon Dance (New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1943). These Thousand Hills (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1956). The Way West (New York: William Sloane Associates, 1949). Poetry “Bell Mare in the Hills.” Atlantic Monthly, CLXXIX (January 1947), 96. “I Can Remember When a Licked Stamp Stuck.” Saturday Review of Literature, XLIX (June 25, 1966), 4. “Island.” Harper’s Magazine, CCXXVIII (May 1964), 63. “Trail Riding.” Frontier, III (November 1922), 13. “Twin Lakes Hunter.” Harper’s Magazine, CCXXVIII (May 1964), 63, “Twin Lakes W inter.” Harper’s Magazine, CCXXVIII (May 1964), 63. “Views.” Frontier, III (March 1923), 14. Stories and Essays “Action, Sir, Action.” Saturday Review of Literature, XLI (April 12, 1958), 56-57. A. B. Guthrie 135 “Adventure with History.” Holiday, XIV (July 1953), 58-63. “An April in Montana.” Holiday, XXXVII (March 1965), 70-71. “Bargain at Moon Dance.” Esquire, XXXVIII (October 1952), 7273 . “Bob Ford, Sun River Man.” Montana: The Magazine of History, IX (January 1959), 30-43. Edited by Guthrie. “Characters and Compassion.” The Writer, LXII (November 1949), 359-362. “Ebbie.” Southwest Review, XXVI (Spring 1951), 85-89. “The End of Their Wanderings: Choteau, Montana.” in A Vanish­ ing America: The Life and Times of the Small Town ed...