Well Jumpin' Jehosophat! It's unusually cold and snowy here in western Oregon. Deer have been coming to our yard to eat the periwinkle (Vinca minor), a plant that they normally pass by. The roads in the neighborhood have been icy and don't get sand or salt. The Mariner hybrid--otherwise known as LSC (life's savings car)--is doing fine, but my '89 Corolla couldn't make it up the last hill and had to spend several days parked alone by the side of the road a half mile away. On the plus side, we had the rare opportunity for a day of cross country skiing starting from our very yard.

 

At work our language program continues its transition; the old institute is very gradually fading while the new thing struggles to take shape. Two teachers have found work elsewhere starting in January. One of them has been around almost as long as I have. So that makes a change, for sure. Other things like curriculum, course planning, and staff assignments haven't changed at all--yet. On the money side--where the truth really lives as I like to say--the university is beginning the process of shutting down the accounts by which the old ELI operated. That came as a relief to me, as I was getting confused. They told me that the ELI was no more, but that non-existent entity was still paying my salary! But just when I thought that was settled and that I now worked for a new thing called INTO/ OSU, it was announced yesterday that the ELI will continue after all until June! Does the ELI still exist or not? I don’t know anymore! Maybe it’s all just an illusion. Maybe if I went up to the receptionist and tried to touch her arm, my hand would pass right through her! Do I dare try this? Probably not.

 

 

In 1912, when Riders was first published, Grey was already quite well known. He had written several novels, including a 1910 best seller called The Heritage of the Desert. Born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio, he had trained as a dentist at the University of Pennsylvania and had practiced for a time in New York City. His first novel was a self-published work called Betty Zane based on the life of one of his ancestors. After Riders he went on to write many more western themed novels and became one of the first millionaire writers in America. Grey also wrote some baseball novels. He attended UP on a baseball scholarship, having been recruited as a pitcher with a wicked curveball. By all accounts he didn't much like being a dentist. Here's the young Grey in his baseball years and beside him the writerly Grey of his days of fame and fortune.

 

 

Grey's books and stories were very popular and the Internet Movie Database lists a rather frightening total of 110 films and TV shows based on his work, but he was never a critical success. Critics said that his stories were not realistic depictions of life in the old west and also faulted his style and the stiffness of his dialog. It is said that his wife, who encouraged his first attempts at writing, also helped him polish the really rough stylistic edges of his early work. Wikipedia claims that contemporaries did admire his way with description--high flown but still very powerful depictions of natural scenes--sunsets, thunderstorms, and rugged terrain.

 

There are certainly pluses and minuses to Riders. There are beautiful descriptions, including an especially memorable night lightning storm. The action is not particularly plausible; the dialogue often reaches the rarefied air of high-ish camp. But realism is not the point here; although it may appear to be an adventure novel in an exotic and beautiful setting, it is in fact a novel of ideas and of ideals. There is lots of story here, including a long and involved back story, and there are lots of action sequences. But the climactic events arise not just from human passions but also from carefully considered moral and ethical choices. The characters that we are meant to admire are in fact very slow to act, very reluctant to raise their hand against those who do them wrong. Hasty and ill-considered actions cause regret. The characters' feelings about the setting are more important than the setting itself.

 

I defy anyone to say that the ending to this novel is not magnificent. Other readers may well use other adjectives, hokey, maybe, or even ridiculous. And those readers may be right, but they may also be pitiful and small.

 

Other themes of the novel include the nature of love, the nature of religious belief, and the place of women in society. Big ideas all, and I think I'll save them for another time. Meanwhile, here's a photo of Zane Grey in 1918 as he supervised the filming of the first of many movie versions of Riders of the Purple Sage.