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 Preface i

John Graves, Writer

ii p re fac e
 Preface iii

John Graves, Writer

ed i t e d by m a r k bu s b y
a n d t e r r e l l d i xo n

u n i v er si t y of tex as pre ss, austin

iv p re fac e

Mark Busby’s introduction updates and revises his entry on John Graves in
American Nature Writers, edited by John Elder, Scribner’s, 1996. Portions of Rick
Bass’s tribute appeared in his introduction to the 2002 SMU Press reprint of Hard
Scrabble. Bill Wittliff ’s essay was originally published as the foreword to the 2004
SMU Press reprint of Notes on a Limestone Ledge. The essays by Terrell Dixon,
James Langston, and Dickie Maurice Heaberlin were originally published in
Southwestern American Literature 29.1 (Fall 2003). Used by permission.

copyright © 2007 by the university of texas press

All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2007

John R. Erickson, Prairie Gothic: The Story of a West Texas Family (Denton: Univer-
sity of North Texas Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by John R. Erickson; reprinted
by permission of the publisher.

All photos courtesy of the Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas State

University–San Marcos.

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html

∞ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements

of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).

li b r a ry o f co ng r ess c ata lo g ing - in- pu blicat io n d ata

John Graves, writer / edited by Mark Busby and Terrell Dixon. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-292-71494-6 (alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-292-71494-7 (alk. paper)
1. Graves, John, 1920– 2. Authors, American—Texas—Biography.
3. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 4. Texas—In literature.
I. Busby, Mark. II. Dixon, Terrell.
ps3557.r2867z75 2007
813'.54—dc22 2006023533
 Preface v

Contents

Preface vii
mark busby and terrell dixon
Introduction 1
mark busby

part one Talking with John Graves

The Writer John Graves Symposium 29
sam hynes, dave hickey, john graves,
and mark busby
An Interview with John Graves 51
dave hamrick

part two Friends

John 71
bill wittliff
John Graves: A Tribute 75
rick bass
John Graves Tribute, November 11, 2000 83
william broyles
John Graves: From Prairie Gothic: The Story of a
West Texas Family 85
john r. erickson
vi pco
renfac
t e nets

Texas Past, Texas Present 91

bill harvey
The Golden Age of John Graves 99
james ward lee

part
three Works
Haunted Landscapes: The Ecology of Story
in John Graves’ Texas 107
alex hunt
Goodbye to a River and American Environmental
Literature 127
terrell dixon
Two Approaches to Ecology and Gender
in Goodbye to a River 139
james langston
Boys’ Stories: Beverly Lowry, John Graves, and the (Male)
Texas Literary Tradition in The Perfect Sonya 149
betsy berry
Of Dachshunds and Dashes: Subjects and Style
in E. B. White and John Graves 163
dickie maurice heaberlin
Brazos Bildungsroman: John Graves and Texas
in Transition in Goodbye to a River 177
lisa slappey
Contested Landscapes: John Graves’ Meditations
on Hard Scrabble Texas History and Ecosystems 191
barbara j. cook
Kindred Spirits: John Graves and Texas Monthly 205
cory lock
Auroras of Autumn: John Graves’ Valedictions 225
don graham

Bibliography 237
Notes on Contributors 251
Index 257
 Preface vii

Preface
m ar k busby a nd terrell dixo n

this collection began converging as the result of sev-

eral events. The Southwestern Writers Collection (SWWC) at Texas
State University–San Marcos held a symposium called “The Writ-
er John Graves” in September 2002, bringing together friends, ac-
quaintances, and scholars of John Graves’ work. The next fall, when
the Western History Association (WHA) met in Fort Worth, orga-
nizer Ron Tyler planned a session on Graves’ work that included
Mark Busby, Terrell Dixon, Don Graham, and Stephen Harrigan,
with Graves commenting on the discussion and announcing that his
memoir would come out in 2004. As that session ended, Jim Lee,
now of Texas Christian University Press and a longtime faculty mem-
ber at the University of North Texas, joined us, as the idea for col-
lecting essays on John Graves began to take shape. Mark Busby and
Terrell Dixon agreed to begin the process, using the presentations at
the San Marcos symposium and WHA as the beginnings of the col-
lection. This book is the culmination of those events.
We decided early that we would not necessarily plan a Festschrift,
which is usually a celebratory volume with contributions by an ac-
ademic’s colleagues and former students. We wanted to have essays
that celebrate Graves’ life and work, but we also planned to include
other analytical essays that offer insight into his life and career by
writers who may or may not have ever met John Graves but who
viii p re fac e

have examined his work carefully. And we believe that this collection
fulfills our goals.

we have divided the collection into three parts after

our preface and coeditor Mark Busby’s introduction. The first part
includes the transcript of a session at the John Graves’ symposium in
San Marcos, with Sam Hynes, Graves’ longtime friend, fellow stu-
dent at Columbia, and a distinguished writer and scholar, and Dave
Hickey, Graves’ former student at TCU and later a MacArthur Fel-
lowship winner for his art criticism. Graves commented on and re-
sponded to these two friends’ observations about their experiences
with him at two distinctly different periods in his life. The sympo-
sium commentary is followed by an interview by Dave Hamrick, the
2004–2006 president of the Texas Institute of Letters and editor of
John Graves and The Making of Goodbye to a River.
Part 2 is perhaps the Festschrift portion of the book. Here six of
John’s friends provide personal responses to their close connection
to John and his work. Bill Wittliff has had a long and close personal
relationship with Graves for many years, back to the 1960s when Bill
and Sally Wittliff ran Encino Press. Next, Rick Bass notes the strong
influence that Graves has had on Texas literature and on his own
work. Then Bill Broyles pays tribute to Graves’ work. Broyles was the
founding editor of Texas Monthly and enticed Graves to write a regu-
lar column for the magazine early in its existence, bringing literary
prestige to Texas Monthly before it was the established publication
that it has become. There is a strong connection between these two
former Marines, one from World War II and the other from Viet-
nam. Next John Erickson tells of visiting Graves early in his writing
career, before Erickson created the now-famous Hank the Cowdog
series, and how the relationship he established with Graves helped
him find his way as a writer. The next essay in this section is by Bill
Harvey, who was drawn early to Graves’ trip down the Brazos and
sought his advice before setting out on his own canoe trip forty years
after the classic journey. Finally, a seasoned observer of Texas letters
and of Graves’ work, James Ward Lee, examines Graves’ career in
light of the 2004 memoir Myself and Strangers. Lee gains insight into
the importance of Graves’ Fort Worth experiences in the making of
 Preface ix

the writer, as well as the significance of rejection in his journey to

becoming a writer.
Part 3 turns to specific examinations of Graves’ work. Alex Hunt’s
essay explores how Graves’ writing often has provoked discussion
about the relationship of literary art with activism and about what
properly constitutes the categories of “nature writing” and “environ-
mentalism.” He then argues for Graves’ work as its own uniquely
Texas hybrid. Terrell Dixon looks at the place of Goodbye to a Riv-
er within American environmental literature; he observes how the
sometimes misunderstood subtleties of Graves’ style and structure
develop the themes of the book and at how the book alternates be-
tween acceptance of and argument with some of Thoreau’s beliefs.
James Langston and Betsy Berry treat one of the issues that al-
ways produces heated discussions among students—the question of
gender in Graves’ work. Langston argues that in Goodbye to a River,
Graves presents a strong female character, Davis Birdsong’s grand-
mother, Maw, whose strength provides the model for a kind of life
that Graves himself later pursued. Berry approaches the issue by
also demonstrating how Graves strongly influenced another Texas
writer, Beverly Lowry. Berry evaluates the strong similarities between
Lowry’s character, Will Hand, in The Perfect Sonya and Graves and
analyzes Lowry’s critique of the Texas “masculine mystique.” Dickie
Maurice Heaberlin points to similarities between John Graves and
E. B. White, particularly both men’s attraction to dachshunds (of-
ten pronounced “dash hounds” in rural Texas) and the two writers’
styles, especially their fondness for the em dash (—).
In her essay, Lisa Slappey looks at the writing of Goodbye to a River
as both a rite of passage for its author and a study of how “an eth-
nocentric, aggressive, colonial culture” imposed itself on indigenous
inhabitants. Barbara J. Cook demonstrates that Graves’ initial three
major works, Goodbye to a River, Hard Scrabble, and From a Lime-
stone Ledge, constitute different aspects of a single, continuing narra-
tive about our right, human relationship to the land. Graves’ essays
for Texas Monthly, the glossy magazine of an increasingly urbanized
state, are the focus of Cory Lock’s contribution. She explores the
place that his Country Notes essays had in the magazine and how the
successive editorships of Bill Broyles, Greg Curtis, and Evan Smith
viewed the importance of Graves’ writing about rural subjects.
x p re fac e

Finally, Don Graham, who has long observed Texas literature, ex-
amines Graves’ main body of work. Graham evaluates Graves’ mem-
oir, pointing out how Graves, unlike some other memoirists, chooses
to concentrate on sketches of relatively unknown figures. He also
points out the numerous literary insights the young Graves had dur-
ing his writing apprenticeship. Graham links how Graves’ return to
Texas at the end of the memoir signaled the beginning of his real
writing career, with the publication of what for Graves became “the
book”—Goodbye to a River.
The three sections, we hope, offer a full picture of John Graves,
writer. Our title echoes the symposium on Graves at Texas State Uni-
versity in 2002, and we would like to thank SWWC curator Connie
Todd and her staff, especially Steve Davis, for the help and inspira-
tion. Mark Busby acknowledges the help of his staff at the Southwest
Regional Humanities Center, especially Sharon Pogue, Christopher
“Twister” Marquiss, and Tammy Gonzales. Terrell Dixon also thanks
the Martha Gano Houstoun Endowment in the English Department
at the University of Houston. And, without doubt, we’d like to thank
the dos Lindas, Linda Busby and Linda Walsh, for all their help in
moving us on down the river. Finally we acknowledge John Graves,
writer, for working with us on this project and for showing all of us
the way.
 Preface xi

As a young boy. In the first grade.

With his father in Cuero, Texas, 1930s.

xii p re fac e

With a flattop haircut.

Relaxing with friends. Graves with his eye patch.

 Preface xiii

In Europe, 1949.

In a Madrid café, circa 1954.

In Europe.
xiv p re fac e

With Watty in his

canoe. Photograph by
Jane Cole.

With his dog on the

Brazos River at start of
the Goodbye trip, 1957.
Photograph by Jane Cole.

Fishing on the Trinity

River, circa 1957 or
1958. Photograph by
Jane Cole.
 Preface xv

With his wife, Jane, 1960s.

At Hard Scrabble, 1960s.

As a mason, 1962.
xvi p re fac e

On his hardscrabble ranch.

Photograph by Bill Wittliff,
© 1971.

Wearing his hat.

On his porch. Photograph by Bill Wittliff, © 1971.

 Preface xvii

In his barn office.

Photograph by Bill Wittliff,
© 1977.

In 1986. Photograph by
Bill Wittliff, © 1986.

Fishing on White Bluff Creek.

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