Table of Contents

• Preface (Mark Busby and Terrell Dixon)
• Introduction (Mark Busby)
• Part One: Talking with John Graves
  • The Writer John Graves Symposium (Sam Hynes, Dave Hickey, John Graves, and Mark Busby)
  • An Interview with John Graves (Dave Hamrick)
• Part Two: Friends
  • John (Bill Wittliff)
  • John Graves: A Tribute (Rick Bass)
  • John Graves Tribute, November 11, 2000 (William Broyles)
  • John Graves: From Prairie Gothic: The Story of a West Texas Family (John R. Erickson)
  • Texas Past, Texas Present (Bill Harvey)
  • The Golden Age of John Graves (James Ward Lee)
• Part Three: Works
  • Haunted Landscapes: The Ecology of Story in John Graves' Texas (Alex Hunt)
  • Goodbye to a River and American Environmental Literature (Terrell Dixon)
  • Two Approaches to Ecology and Gender in Goodbye to a River (James Langston)
  • Boys' Stories: Beverly Lowry, John Graves, and the (Male) Texas Literary Tradition in The Perfect Sonya (Betsy Berry)
  • Of Dachshunds and Dashes: Subjects and Style in E.B. White and John Graves (Dickie Maurice Heaberlin)
  • Brazos Bildungsroman: John Graves and Texas in Transition in Goodbye to a River (Lisa Slappey)
  • Contested Landscapes: John Graves' Meditations on Hard Scrabble Texas History and Ecosystems (Barbara J. Cook)
  • Kindred Spirits: John Graves and Texas Monthly (Cory Lock)
  • Auroras of Autumn: John Graves' Valedictions (Don Graham)
• Bibliography
• Notes on Contributors
• Index

Promotional Information

The first book to focus on the entire life and work of John Graves, author of Goodbye to a River and arguably Texas's most beloved and respected writer.

About the Author

Mark Busby is Director of the Southwest Regional Humanities Center and the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University-San Marcos, where he also serves as Professor of English.

Terrell F. Dixon teaches literature and the environment at the University of Houston, where his research is currently supported by the Martha Gano Houstoun Endowment in the Department of English. He served as Chair of the department from 1980 to 1995.

Reviews

The editors of this work have faithfully captured the spirit of the man behind the writing, and as the various essays contained in this volume demonstrate, the fluid, captivating prose of John Graves is directly connected to his comfortable stance within a changing world, his profound sense of place, his keen observations about history and contemporary life in Texas serving as a microcosm for the world.  The collection is particularly satisfying because of the smart way the editors expose Graves—his personality along with his thoughtful claims about life and art.
*Texas Books in Review*