Annotations of Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose

In his 1971 historical novel, Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner alluded to scores of people, places, events, magazines, companies, characters, even principles of physics. Below are annotations of many of these allusions, listed according to the part, chapter, and paragraph in which each appears. Each annotation also includes the page number on which the allusion appears in the edition that Penguin Books published in 1992.

Part I: Grass Valley

Chapter 1

Paragraph 2: Grass Valley (page 15)

Paragraph 8: Menlo Park (page 16)

Paragraph 10: Sierra (page 17)

Paragraph 11: Santorin (page 18)

Paragraph 13: Hydroponic (page 18) is a bit of lingo stolen from the scientific world and put to illicit use in the service of that most unscientific of pursuits, fiction writing. Usually referred to as “hydroponics” or “hydroponic farming,” it is a botanical concept, specifically the science of growing plants without the use of soil, potash or other soil-based planting materials. Hydroponics was developed in the mid-1800’s and is also called “soilless argiculture,” “nutriculture” or “chemical culture.”
Since land-based plants receive a majority of their vital nutrients from the ground in which they are planted, nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous, this method of plant growth can be a complex process. There are two main schools of hydroponics, water culture and gravel culture. In both techniques the plants are placed in metal or plastic containers (massive tanks are used for large-scale growing), and a carefully measured mixture of nutrients is pumped through the growth mediums as the plants need it. Water culture is the best-known form of hydroponics, with people oftentimes believing the term refers solely to plants grown in water, even though gravel culture is the easier of the two methods. Although hydroponics has not been proven to grow larger, healthier plants, it does allow plants to be grown in inhospitable climates and situations, such as ships at sea and arctic bases. Also, it helps to free up much needed, limited resources of good, viable soil.  In Angle of Repose, Stegner uses “hydroponic” in its scientific sense, but to a very interesting effect. In the paragraph in which the word appears, the speaker, the wheelchair-bound Lyman Ward, is musing over the differences between his generation and the next, “a gulf” he calls it. He describes his generation and his parents' generation as being “in touch with the earth” and “organic.” He praises their connection to time, to their past, and to their personal histories. He admires this intimate connection with history and, in his “writing” of his family’s story, seeks to strengthen this connection in himself. He uses the definition of  “organic"--or, more specifically, the associations that come from this word, natural, down to earth (literally), or grounded (once again, literally)--to give us a sense of this deep connection, while allowing a peak into Ward’s own view of these people, and their lives. As these are all very approving, affirming ideas, so are Ward's feelings of these people approving. Yet in the next breath he berates the next generation, his son’s generation, as being the polar opposite. They are “hydroponic” in his eyes. Instead of being grounded, they are floating, belittling or ignoring their pasts, aimless, rootless. Stegner masterfully uses this scientific jargon to congeal a vaporous, elusive emotional concept for us: alienation. He summarizes so many things, so many concepts of disconnection in that one word that it’s almost easy to get lost in them. There is the floating, misplaced imagery of hydroponics itself, plants removed from their rightful environments, plants floating in gigantic aquariums, roots floating sterile and spider like in blue-green cage of water. If one chooses to dwell on it, it is a very unsettling image, a very futuristic concept, grass that no longer needs the dirt to grow, people who no longer need their pasts, sons who no longer need their fathers.
Written by Steven Byrd, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 
 

Paragraph 15: Berkeley (page 18)

Paragraph 15: Paul Goodman (page 18)

Paragraph 15: Vietnam (page 18)

Paragraph 21: Civil War (page 19)

Paragraph 21: Bowie knife (page 19)

Paragraph 22: New Almaden (page 19)

Paragraph 22: Comstock (page 19)

Paragraph 25: John Greenleaf Whittier (page 20)

Paragraph 25: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (page 20)

Paragraph 25: Mark Twain (page 20)

Paragraph 25: William Dean Howells (page 20)

Paragraph 25: Grover Cleveland (page 20)

Paragraph 27: Pre-Raphaelite (page 21)

Paragraph 27: realism (page 21)

Paragraph 35: Bancroft Prize (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Technicolor (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Northern Mines (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Lola Montez (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Franz Liszt (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Alexandre Dumas (page 22)

Paragraph 35: pere (page 22)

Paragraph 35: fils (page 22)

Paragraph 35: King Ludwig I (page 22)

Paragraph 35: Bavaria (page 22)

Paragraph 35: San Francisco (page 22)

Paragraph 37: George Hearst (page 23)

Paragraph 38: Victorian (page 23)

Paragraph 39: The Chronicle of Higher Education (page 22)

Paragraph 39: Woman's Liberation Front (page 23)

Paragraph 41: Quaker (page 23)

Paragraph 41: Santa Cruz (page 23)

Paragraph 41: Leadville (page 23)

Paragraph 41: Michoacan (page 24)

Paragraph 41: Snake River Valley (page 24)

Paragraph 42: Century (page 24)

Paragraph 42: Atlantic (page 24)

Paragraph 43: New York Times (page 24)

Paragraph 43: Boise Canyon (page 24)

Paragraph 43: Henry James (page 24)

Paragraph 44: Henry Adams (page 24)

Paragraph 44: The Doppler Effect (page 24), named after an Austrian physicist and mathematician named Christian Johann Doppler, is a scientific term that explains how sound travels.  According to the American Heritage Dictionary the Doppler Effect is an "apparent change in frequency of waves, as in sound or light, when the source and observer are in motion relative to each other, the frequency increasing as the source and observer approach each other and decreasing as they move apart."  The Doppler allusion plays an important role in the mood and tone of the novel. (See also Academic American Encyclopedia; Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia.)
Written by Rebecca Price, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Paragraph 45: La Farge (page 25)

Paragraph 45: Newport (page 25)

Paragraph 45: Holy Land (page 25)

Paragraph 45: Italy (page 25)

Paragraph 45: Stanford White (page 25)

Paragraph 45: Staten Island (page 25)

Paragraph 47: Edith Wharton (page 25)

Paragraph 48: North American Review (page 26)

Paragraph 48: Yale College (page 26)

Paragraph 50: The Booklover (page 26)

Paragraph 52: Milton (page 26)

Paragraph 52: Hudson (page 26)

Paragraph 52: Society of Friends (page 26)

Paragraph 53: New York (page 26)

Paragraph 53: Poughkeepsie (page 26)

Paragraph 54: School of Design for Women (page 27)

Paragraph 54: Cooper Institute (page 27)

Paragraph 54: Academy of Design (page 27)

Paragraph 54: Art Students' League (page 27)

Paragraph 58: Gorgon (page 28)

Paragraph 66: Burbank (page 29)
 

Chapter 2

Paragraph 18:  The line "But I am like the Connecticut Yankee (page 35) who has foreknowledge of an eclipse" is a profound statement made by Lyman Ward in an introverted look back on the lives of his ancestors.  This allusion refers to the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, written by Mark Twain.  In this novel, a young man is transported back to medieval history to the fabled home of King Arthur.  As this man is about to be burned at the stake, he remembers that on that particular day in history, there was an eclipse.  He uses this knowledge to make it appear as if he is causing the eclipse and thus saves his life.  Throughout the novel, “the Boss” uses his knowledge of the present life he left behind (while he is in the past) to transform this backward nation into a modern civilization.  Lyman refers to this excerpt because in this paragraph, he is contemplating the outcome of his grandparents' life, as well as the lives of their friends.  He is aware of their future actions, even as they wondered what they would do.  From reading letters his grandmother wrote, and witnessing her troubled emotions, he is able to know her actions and the repercussions of those actions.  He is able to look back on the past and know the destiny of the people, much like the character in Mark Twain's book.  This ability makes him feel somewhat superior, yet old. (See Biographical Dictionary of Southern Authors; Dictionary of American Authors).
Written by Anna Thompson, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Chapter 6

Paragraph 24: Paola, Francesca, and the quotation in this paragraph (269) come from Inferno, written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Inferno is one part of a three-part work that was written in the 14th century entitled The Divine Comedy. Francesca reminisces about the day she and Paolo became lovers after reading the book of Lancelot’s romance.  The love story ignites the fires of passion between the two, but Dante does not go into explicit detail of their sexual encounter. He only alludes to what transpires between the lovers by having Francesca say "… that day we read no farther in it.”  At this point in Angle of Repose, Shelly is trying to convince Lyman to spice up his historical account by divulging the details of his grandmother’s sexual exploits. Shelly tries to reason that the modern reader wants more explicit details and refers to Dante’s Paolo and Francesca because the sexual encounters were merely implied. She even suggests that Dante was dishonest by leaving the affair to the reader’s imagination. Lyman counters by saying that he would rather be a hypocrite like Dante and preserve some of his grandmother’s privacy than add eroticism to please the modern reader. The exchange between Shelly and Lyman further illustrates the generation gap between Lyman and those his son’s age.  (See Academic American Encyclopedia; Classical and Foreign Quotations; The Divine Comedy; and The Inferno of Dante.)
Written by Paula Caudle, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Part II: New Almaden

Chapter 1

Paragraph 2: The pronoun thee, which Susan Ward uses from time to time, is an archaic accusative form for the second-person singular pronoun. One of the oldest words in the language, it goes back to Old English, spoken roughly between A.D. 450 and 1100. Before it virtually died out in the 17th century during the period of Early Modern English, it was used--along with the nominative form, thou, and the genitive form, thy--when the speaker was on somewhat intimate or at least friendly terms with the person being addressed or when the speaker was addressing someone of a lower social position. The three most common forms of the pronoun are as follows: Although most speakers had stopped using this form by 1700, instead using you and your in all situations, members of a religious denomination called the Society of Friends and more commonly known as the Quakers still use thee. In fact, some use it instead of you in all situations to emphasize the brotherhood of humans. In Angle of Repose, Susan is not a strict Quaker in this sense, but she does frequently use it when she is feeling passionate and particularly intimate with a person, usually her husband, Oliver. When she says, "Thee mustn't doubt it," in this portion of the novel, she and Oliver are sitting together and soaking up the setting of their new life in New Almaden. It is noteworthy that Susan later uses thee when she is speaking to Frank, signifying a special, even romantic relationship between them. (See The Oxford English Dictionary; The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.)
Written by Mark Canada, English professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Part IV: Leadville

Chapter 1

Paragraph 58: A Quaker (page 212) is a member of a Christian group known as The Society of Friends.  In the colonial period, many settled in the northeastern part of America.  However, now the Quakers exist throughout America.  The Quakers are known to be quiet, conservative, and reserved people.  In The Quiet Rebels, Margaret Bacon  describes Quakers as “firmly rooted in Christianity.”  In Angle of Repose the main character Susan was born a Quaker, and  throughout the book this point is continuously stressed.  In this paragraph, for example, Lyman says: “It’s like that horse pistol up there that he brought to his courting and laid out on her Quaker dresser.”  This sentence highlights the complexity of Susan and Oliver, as well as the differences between them.  His grandfather represents the West with his roughness and manly manners.  On the other hand, Susan, being a Quaker, represents a calm, settled, and formal lifestyle that Oliver has probably never known.  (See The Quiet Rebels, by Margaret Bacon.)
Written by Rebecca Price, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Paragraph 29: Deadwood (page 209) is the seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota.  Lyman Ward and his son, Rodman, discuss the area because Lyman's grandfather, Oliver, spent some time in the Black Hills mining town.  The city lies in a very tight canyon known as Deadwood Gulch.  Early settlers constructed dozens of streets up the canyon's sides.  Gold mining and lumbering are important industries for the city.  Tourists frequent the historic lands and help contribute to Deadwood's economy.  Gold mines are still to be found, along with the burial sites of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.
When gold was first discovered in 1876 in Deadwood, hundreds of dead trees littered the canyon.  These fallen trees brought about the name "Deadwood."  A railroad made travel to the area easier in 1891, and Deadwood turned into a rather important trading post for the Black Hills.  Rodman tells his father that Oliver's passage through Deadwood will add "zing to your book" (211).  However, Lyman refutes the idea and tells his son the book is not one of Western history.  Wild Bill Hickok died a year before Oliver was in the city.  Before giving Rodman this fact, Lyman curtly says: "I don't give a damn if he once saw Wild Bill plain" (211).  So, even though Lyman does not care about the great history of Deadwood, it has a past certainly worth noting.  (See "Deadwood Information and History"; Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.)
Written by Andy Stamper, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Paragraph 30:  Wild Bill Hickok (page 209) originally had a job on the Oregon Trail as a freighter.  He was also a professional gunman and worked as a scout in the Civil War.  Hickok was also a notorious gambler.  This vice proved to be his downfall as he was killed while playing poker by Jack McCall, on August 2, 1876.  There is speculation that McCall killed Hickok to avenge his brother.  At the time of his death, Hickok was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, later to be called a “dead man’s hand.”  Stegner alludes to Hickok because he lived in the time his grandparents settled in the West and represents the wild, rugged, untamed nature that they lived in. Throughout the novel, Stegner mentions many names to validate the time period and the role that Oliver and Susan played in society.  The reference to Wild Bill Hickok reinforces the historical aspect of the novel.  (See Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth.)
Written by Anna Thompson, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Chapter 3

Paragraph 50: Susan Ward alludes to the work of American writer Bret Harte (page 240) as one of the foundations she uses to form an opinion of the West.  Harte (1836-1902) moved to California following the gold rush during the late 1860's and wrote a series of short stories and poems colorfully depicting the West.  Harte's stories have helped give many readers their first impressions of the West and the gold rush days.  One of his short stories, "The Luck of Roaring Camp" (1868), made his name synonymous with the local-color genre.  Harte's short stories and poems have provided prototypes for many of the Western stories, poems, and movies produced after his time.  Famous writers Mark Twain and Henry James did not care too much for Harte's character.  In Bret Harte, A Biography, Richard O'Connor notes that some accused Harte of making a living writing about a legend he detested.  Susan Ward's writing and letters were similar to Harte's in that they painted a vivid picture of the West.  Susan, like Harte, made a living writing about a place and legend that she also resented and detested.  (See American Writers, A Collection of Literary Biographies.)
Written by Pam McInnis, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Part VII: The Canyon

Chapter 3

Paragraphs 12 and 53: The noun rebozo (pages 385 and 388) is used in Stegner’s Angle of Repose often to reflect the discomforts and reality of the harsh climate in Mexico.  The word is derived from Latin and has been in use for hundreds of years by Mexicans.  Broken down into two parts, the word has separate meanings.  For example, "re-" means "back," and "-bozo" means muzzle or mouth.  However, as the word rebozo comes together, its meaning is quite different.  A rebozo is a long scarf or shawl that is usually worn over the head and shoulder areas.  Mexican women use the rebozo to help block the sun from the head, face, neck and shoulder areas.  It helps reduce damage to skin from overexposure to the sun.  In the novel Angle of Repose, Susan uses a rebozo while she is in Mexico to help save her skin.  Stegner says: “Mexico had taught her what such a shawl could do for a pretty face” (388)  I believe the rebozo is somewhat like a symbol in the book.  It represents one of the many adaptations Susan has to take on in the West to survive.  All throughout the novel Susan adapts and changes to the lifestyles of the West, and in the end Susan is altogether one big adaptation herself.  One can surely feel sympathy for Susan, especially a wife or mother.  (See The American Heritage College Dictionary; Mexican Cultures.)
Written by Rebecca Price, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Chapter 7

Paragraph 108: “Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am.” This line comes from Sir Thomas Wyatt's sonnet "Whoso List to Hunt," which some believe alludes to Anne Boleyn.  “Caesar” may refer to England's King Henry VIII, who married Boleyn in 1533.  The Latin phrase in the line translates as “Touch me not.”  Boleyn belonged to another man, just as Susan, to whom this line refers, is married.  This is a very fitting line for this particular scene in the novel because Lyman has been commenting on his grandmother’s affair with Frank Sargent.  Lyman does not try to speculate on whether the affair was consummated.  It is simply enough for his purposes that his grandmother was looking to another man for comfort.  This is like the relationship between Boleyn and Wyatt because history has not proven that the pair committed adultery.  This quote is appropriate because both ladies were committed to their Caesars, and in both instances another man tried to lure them away. (See Legacy and Five Courtier Poets of the English Renaissance.)
Written by Anna Thompson, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Part VIII: The Mesa

Chapter 6

Paragraph 18: Among the "historical precedents" Lyman Ward cites for the community Shelly Rasmussen considers entering is the Oneida Colony (516). Oneida was a real community, an attempt at a utopian society, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 and located in Oneida, New York. Oneida was one of many utopian societies, also called “social experiments” or “cooperative settlements,” to be founded in the 19th century. As more and more people became unhappy with America’s changing heart and new focus on commercialism, subcultures began to break away from American society, declare themselves independent, and forge their own way of life. Many of these communities were located in the America’s northeast in what was known as the Burned Over district, a section of the country so swept away with religious “fire” that many considered it “burned over.” Many of these new societies sprang out of this new feel of religious responsibility, while others were grounded in political or financial concerns. Of these societies, Oneida was often considered the most extreme. The community adhered to a strict religious doctrine, one that claimed perfection was possible through direct union with God. They also adopted a communist view of property ownership and espoused equal rights for men and women. However, the group’s most controversial practice was the doctrine of “complex marriage,” where every member was considered married to every other member. This practice drew attacks from orthodox religious leaders and eventually led to the end of Oneida as a utopian society, although it still exists today in the form of a joint-stock company.  The important thing about this scene in the novel is the conflict between Lyman and Shelly. The idea of utopia is just another point for their two opposing outlooks (Lyman’s Neo-Victorian skepticism versus Shelly’s “hippy” idealism) to debate.  Lyman speaks in two voices here. The first is the voice of his deeply ingrained conserativism. To Lyman, new, radical ideas are fraught with peril and unavoidable problems, problems so severe that the possible reward is not worth the certain risk. This is the Victorian in him, the preserver of the status quo, a lesson possibly taught to him by his grandmother’s difficulties in attempting to create a better life for herself in the West. This is a voice of supposition, ideas, and “what ifs.” Lyman’s second voice is more reliable, but no more optimistic. It is the voice of the historian, the researcher, the man of facts and figures and past examples. The main point in Lyman’s misgivings about Shelly’s utopia (and about people in general, it seems, with his clinical, cold summation of people as “commonly superstitious-ridden, ritual-bound and warlike,” along with his assertion that the colony’s main problem will be that “… the commune will be inhabited by and surrounded by members of the human race”) is his grounding in the past. Lyman lives by the idea that what happened before will happen again, and again, and again. It drives his life and his work, as shown by his research of his grandmother’s life in order to help figure out his own. His is the life of experience.  Shelly’s voice is simpler and much sweeter to the ear.  It is the voice of youth, innocence, and hope. It is a voice that has heard the complaints of the elders (in this case, Lyman) and read of the examples of the past, but still seeks to find out on its own. In many ways, it is the voice of the pioneer, the dreamer.  This is the voice that forces society to question and move and progress, no matter how clumsy that progression might be.  With this conversation, Stegner seems to be setting up another one of his generational oppositions, this time about something no less important than human nature itself. There is no more central a question than “What are people really like?” It affects all of your other opinions, such as those on social class struggles, politics, religion, and equality, all colored by what you assume people to be.

Paragraph 32:   An organization of World War I and II, and Korean and Vietnam, war veterans, Established in 1919, the American Legion (page 517) is an organization of veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.  The group helped World War II efforts by creating effective civilian defense programs, creating war bond drives, and greatly contributing to blood banks.  The legion also supported military strategy and upheld foreign policies.  The same actions were effective in the Korean and Vietnam wars.  Lobbying for veterans' legislation, such as the G.I. Bill of Rights, the American Legion carries respectable political influence.  Furthermore, the legion works toward the expansion and construction of veterans' hospitals, pension plans, and governmental benefits for veterans and their families.  The American Legion sponsors youth instruction programs to instill the principles of American government and awards scholarships and medals to grade-school students.  These programs are designed to encourage youth leadership and define the United States constitution.  Wallace Stegner's allusion to the American Legion is found during Lyman's talk with Shelly concerning the young, idealistic Nevada City colony.  The residents of the liberal commune would live in a society quite separated from the American mainstream and thus might anger more traditional segments of the population, such as members of the American Legion.  Lyman says, "They'll be lucky if the American Legion doesn't burn them out . . ." (517).  Shelly protests that his view is based on past events, and Lyman refuses to give the colony much hope or support.  He believes something will happen to end or hurt the community whether or not an organization like the American Legion becomes involved.  (See "Welcome to the American Legion.")
Written by Andy Stamper, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Paragraph 68: Lyman makes reference to letters Susan received in 1890 from Rudyard Kipling and Kipling’s father (page 520). Kipling was a popular British writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kipling was born in India, where his father was an art teacher, but he was educated in England. Kipling returned to India at the end of his formal education when his family could not afford to send him to a university. Upon returning to India, Kipling responded to his muse and began his writing career by submitting literary pieces as a staff member of the Civil and Military Gazette. From there, Kipling spent his life writing. Many stories were about India or had an Indian theme such as the ever popular The Jungle Book. In 1907, Kipling received the honor of being the first English writer to be given the Nobel Prize for Literature.
     Lyman is reviewing the letters from the Kiplings thanking Susan for an illustration she submitted for one of the younger Kipling’s books. Lyman’s remarks about Susan’s “exile” could mean that even though Susan considers herself to be cut off in an uncultured world, she is still sought by literary greats like Kipling from as far away as England. Though she feels she is isolated in the West, she still has a degree of contact with her sophisticated, Eastern lifestyle.

Points to ponder:

(See The Oxford Companion to English Literature; The World Book Encyclopedia)
Written by Paula Caudle, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
 

Chapter 7

Paragraph 4 : Lyman Ward quotes the great American writer Henry James (page 524) while dealing with his frustrations as he tries to understand the life of his grandmother, Susan Ward.  James carved a career for himself during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Sometimes referred to as "The Master" by fellow novelists, he wrote for 50 years, producing 20 novels and one hundred and twelve tales.  He moved freely and at ease between the New World and the Old World.  Not only was James an accomplished writer, he was also a critic and theorist.  James developed terminology used to critique a novel.  Biographer Leon Edel writes, "He understood human motive and behavior and was the first of the modern psychological novelists" (716).   Lyman Ward compared himself to Henry James as a writer, noting that James was not restrained in his writing by the facts like himself in recording Susan Ward's life.  In Lyman's search for the facts, he found that Susan held the utmost respect for Henry James.  Like Susan's work in Angle of Repose, James's work appeared in magazines like The Atlantic Monthly and The Nation.  Both of these magazines provided Susan with a link to the civilized world.  Henry James lived the type of life Susan Ward dreamed of, worked for, and waited for.  (See also American Writers, A Collection of Literary Biographies: Volume II; Henry James, A Life, by Leon Edel.)
Written by Pam McInnis, student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke