Suggestions for Reading
1. Read the autobiographical books, A Son of the Middle Border and A Daughter of the Middle Border, to get the background of Mr. Garland’s work. Then read his essays called Crumbling Idols, for the literary theory on which his work was created.
2. Two literary landmarks in Mr. Garland’s history are: Edward Eggleston’s The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1871), and Joseph Kirkland’s Zury: the Meanest Man in Spring County (1887). Read these and decide how much they influenced Main-Traveled Roads and similar volumes of Mr. Garland’s.
3. Mr. Garland says that he presents farm life “not as the summer boarder or the young lady novelist sees it—but as the working farmer endures it.” Find evidence of this.
4. Consider how far Mr. Garland’s success depends upon the richness of his material, how far upon his philosophy of life and his honesty to his own experience, and how far upon his technical skill as a writer.
5. What are his most obvious limitations? What is the relative importance of his novels and of his short stories?
6. Consider separately: (1) his power of visualization; (2) his choice of significant detail; (3) his originality or lack of it; (4) his range in characterization; (5) his power of suggestion as over against his vividness of delineation; (6) his economy—or lack of it—in expression. Where does his main strength lie?
Bibliography
- Under the Wheel. A Modern Play in Six Scenes. 1890.
- *Main-Traveled Roads. 1890.
- Jason Edwards. 1891.
- A Little Norsk. 1891.
- *Prairie Folks. 1892.
- A Spoil of Office. A Story of the Modern West. 1892.
- A Member of the Third House. 1892.
- Crumbling Idols. 1893. (Essays.)
- Prairie Songs. 1894.
- *Rose of Dutcher’s Coolly. 1895.
- Wayside Courtships. 1897.
- The Spirit of Sweetwater. 1898.
- Boy Life on the Prairie. 1899. (Autobiographical.)
- The Eagle’s Heart. 1900.
- Her Mountain Lover. 1901.
- The Captain of the Gray Horse Troop. A Novel. 1902.
- Hesper. A Novel. 1903.
- The Light of the Star. A Novel. 1904.
- The Tyranny of the Dark. 1905. (Novel.)
- The Long Trail. A Story of the Northwest Wilderness. 1907.
- Money Magic. A Novel. 1907.
- The Shadow World. 1908. (Novel.)
- The Moccasin Ranch. A Story of Dakota. 1909.
- Cavanagh, Forest Ranger. A Romance of the Mountain West. 1909.
- *Other Main-Traveled Roads. 1910.
- Victor Ollnee’s Discipline, 1911. (Novel.)
- The Forester’s Daughter. A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range. 1914.
- They of the High Trails. 1916.
- A Son of the Middle Border. 1917. (Autobiographical.)
- A Daughter of the Middle Border. 1921. (Autobiographical.)
Studies and Reviews