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Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner. Penguin USA: 1992. ISBN: 014016930X. 569 pages..
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About the Author
A page of detailed biographical information on Angle of Repose, including excerpts from interviews in which Stegner interprets his own work.
While Stegner doesn’t want to be “pigeonholed” simply as a Western writer, he admits that the notion of place is important in all his fiction. “I may not know who I am,” he says, “but I know where I’m from.”
All in the Family
A synopsis of the literary traditions and genres with which Angle of Repose is affiliated and a brief explanation of these connections, giving your book group the opportunity to understand Stegner’s novel in a larger literary perspective.
This section includes background on Mary Hallock Foote, the real-life 19th-century Western woman on whom Stegner bases his character, Susan Burling Ward. Did Stegner “steal” Mary Foote’s story, or does he have the right to use her letters, change a few details, and call her story his own?
Talk Back to the Critics
Excerpts of some major critical reviews of Angle of Repose from authoritative journals, newspapers, and magazines. We encourage your book group to enjoy the opportunity to argue with expert opinion.
Some reviewers find fault with Stegner’s portraits of women, including the critic who argues that Stegner’s female characters “are the prophetesses of reduced expectations, of objectivity, of the desire to live by controls, and like all bearers of bad tidings, they suffer.”
Character Tree
A list of major characters and their dominant characteristics and values, showing characters’ relationships to each other.
Because Stegner’s novel moves back and forth through time and space, we’ve listed the Ward family from both this century and the last and gathered characters together according to the place they call home.
Streams of Themes
A breakdown of potential major discussion themes in Angle of Repose, including ways these themes are interconnected.
Angle of Repose is full of themes that challenge our own understanding of categories: the past and the present, East vs. West, and love and marriage are just a few.
Doorways to Discussion
A chronologically and thematically organized list of discussion questions, which function to explore, in a logical and thoughtful manner, the questions and possibilities that Angle of Repose evokes.
We promise you won’t run out of things to talk about in Angle of Repose. Here’s one example of the 33 questions featured in this section: “After a trip back East, Susan returns to join her husband in their new home of Leadville. How has her perspective on her husband, her marriage, and the West changed?”
Taste Test
A selection of other books on subjects similar to those in Angle of Repose to consider for future book group meetings or for private reading.
If you like powerful, contemporary novels of the American West, stories with unusual, isolated settings, and fiction about the challenges and complexities of family life, we’ve included lots of books we think you’ll enjoy!
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