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Reviews 331 the light of his primary occupation of artist. His articles and stories, journal­ istic, historical, fictional, were published in the leading magazines of his day, and his novel, John Ermine of the Yellowstone, published by Macmillan, was made into a play. Seven other books combined 47 of his magazine pieces. It is this entire body of material that Peggy and Harold Samuels have assembled in this monumental book. Remington’s work is presented chronologically, supported by a catalogue of the more than 400 illustrations for his writings, of which 140 are reproduced in the book. As the editors note, “much of his writing was, and was expressly intended to be, an intro­ duction to his art.” Such pieces as “Massai’s Crooked Trail” and “A Scout with the Buffalo Soldiers” illustrate why many of the leading critics and personalities of his times praised Remington’s work. His “With the Fifth Corps,” filed from Cuba during the Spanish American War and published by Harper’s Monthly in November 1898, drew justifiable kudos from many quarters. But it is his western material — word and picture — that stands out; a whole generation formed its perception of the American West through Remington’s work. That his audience had to deal with his flaws and fancies does not compromise his work. He was, after all, a product of his times. One might question whether the editors shoud have sacrificed subject groupings in favor of chronological presentation. And today’s reader would have benefitted from a comprehensive annotation that would have identified unfamiliar persons and places and corrected a number of misspelled names. Also, the publisher’s editing should have caught the uniform lapse in illus­ tration credit lines that makes the editors of the book its authors. Remington’s writing is appreciably autobiographical in nature, for he was a direct observer or participant in much of what his writings portrayed. On one occasion he is reported to have dismounted at the end of a grueling day’s ride with a frontier military unit to remark dolefully to the troop com­ mander that he had “the heart of a cavalryman, but the behind of a nurse­ maid.” Posterity may take satisfaction from the knowledge that Remington’s ticker won out over his posterior. He was there, as this book attests so well. WILLIAM GARDNER BELL U.S. Army Center of Military History Benchmark and Blaze: The Emergence of William Everson. Edited by Lee Bartlett. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979. 274 pages, $12.50.) According to the introduction this book seeks to collect the “benchmark pieces tracing the poetic emergence of William Everson,” and should not 332 Western American Literature be taken as a “casebook” nor a collection of the poet’s major reviews. The editor has pulled together a series of essays which range from popular sources, such as Time magazine, through scholarly sources, such as transcripts of symposia, to critical assessments by fellow poets William Stafford and Robert Duncan. Everson’s work as a printer is also discussed. The essays are arranged in chronological order with an editorial intro­ duction to each, which helps establish the rationale for its selection, and shows how the essay fits in the development of Everson’s career. Just before each essay a quotation from it serves as an abstract or points up an important aspect of both Everson’s work and the particular critique of it. As one might expect, the essays are not of uniform quality or interest, but range from murky to genuinely enlightening. Despite their uneven character, however, they all reinforce the picture of a man being constantly born anew, the violence of continual metamorphosis of careers and personal trauma, the growing pains reflected in a poetry of rich imagination, energy and power — a poetry which has effected the work of many others who have come to know and value it. For those who do not know Everson’s work, and for those who are interested in tracing the development of the poet’s career in order to under­ stand where Everson is “coming from,” this is a useful and interesting book. GARY HOLTHAUS, Anchorage, Alaska Charles Olson: Call Him Ishmael. By Paul...

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