| Researcher | Author: Title | |
| Ellen Garrett | Grey, Zane: The Call of the Canyon | |
| Assignment 1: Bibliographic Description | ||
| 1. First Edition Publication Information | Zane Grey. The Call of the Canyon. New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1921.
Copyright Statements: 1921 Zane Grey 1922 Zane Grey 1924 Zane Grey There are no parallel first editions: | |
| 2. First Edition in Cloth, Paper, or Both? | The first American edition is published in trade cloth binding. | |
| 3. Image of Cover Art | A13191000206154451.jpg | |
| 4. Pagination | 153 leaves, pp. [12]1-40[2]41-150[2]151-196[2]197-291[3] | |
| 5. Edited and/or Introduced? | There is no introduction. Harper Fiction advertises eight books at the end:
To the Last Man, Zane Grey Coomer Ali, S.B.H. Hurst The Canyon of the Fools, Richard Matthews Hallet Lost Valley, Katherine Fullerton Gerould The Vehement Flame, Margaret Deland The Vertical City, Fannie Hurst Conflict, Clarence Budington Kelland The Pathless Trail, Arthur O. Friel | |
| 6. Illustrated? | Four illustrated plates are listed on the ninth unnumbered
page at the beginning. Each is a black and white photographic painting on glossy paper stock with captions underneath. Unnumbered pp.6; caption: "I've come to wish you and Flo all the happiness in the world, and to say we must be friends." Blank page after pp.40; caption: "Glen! Look who's here!" She called, in a voice she could not have steadied to save her life. Blank page after pp.150; caption: "You look like a sick kitten," he added. "When I get me a sweetheart or a wife I want her to be a wildcat." Blank page after pp.196; caption: "Larry, I fear gain and loss are mere words; the thing that counts with me is what you are." | |
| 7. Sample Illustration | A17191000206154451.jpg | |
| 8. General Appearance | Presentation of Text on Page: Large font and congruent
line spacing leads to ease of reading. Measurement of Page: 7.25" x 5" Margins: top~ 7/8" bottom~ 1" outside~ 1" inside~3/4" Size of text per page: 5.75" x 3.5" Size of Type: 88R No type description noted on verso of the title page or colophon. The serifs are bracketed. There is no difference in the font type of the title page, text, or illustration captions. These features do vary by font size. Within the text, correspondence in writing from one character to another is noted with a smaller font size. | |
| 9. Image of Sample Chapter Page | A19191000206154451.jpg | |
| 10. Description of Paper | Wove paper with even, granulated texture. The book consists
of the same paper stock throughout. Overall discoloration with darker stains toward the binding and the edges. Illustrations are on glossy paper stock. The paper is holding up well save for a few small tears and spots. | |
| 11. Description of Binding | No dust jacket.
Material: cloth Color: orange Stamping: dark blue Illustration: dark blue stamped into cloth Endpapers: plain and uncolored Spine: The | Call | of the | Canyon | ZANE | GREY | HARPERS Front Cover: The Call of | the Canyon | ZANE GREY | |
| 12. Title Page Transcription | Recto: THE CALL OF | THE CANYON | BY | ZANE GREY |
AUTHOR OF | "RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE," "WANDERER | OF THE WASTELAND," ETC. | HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS | NEW YORK AND LONDON .. MCMXXIV Verso: THE CALL OF THE CANYON | copyright, 1924. Zane Grey | copyright, 1921, 1922, Zane Grey | Printed in the U.S.A. | First Edition | |
| 13. Image of Title Page | A113191000206154648.jpg | |
| 15. Other | University of Virginia call number: PS3513.R6545C3 1925 | |
| Assignment 2: Publication History | ||
| 1. Other Editions: | The first edition was issued as a parallel first edition.
Harper published in New York and London along with Hodder & Stoughton in London. 1952, 1992, 1995 HarperPaperbacks, NY 1953 paperback: Hodder & Stoughton, London 1994, 1995 Harper Collins Publishers, United States | |
| 4. First Edition printings or impressions? | unkown | |
| 5. Editions from other publishers? | 1924, 1925, 1952 Great Western Edition: Grosset & Dunlap, NY
1924 Home Library Edition: McKinlay, Stone & MacKenzie, NY 1924 Black's Readers Service 1924 B. Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1924 Musson Book Co., Toronto 1950 Black's Readers Service, co., NY 1952, 1992, 1995 HarperPaperbacks, NY 1952, 1982 Large Print Edition: Thorndike Press, ME 1953 paperback: Hodder & Stoughton, London 1966 paperback: Corgi Books, London 1975 Zane Grey Book Club Matched Set Edition: Walter J. Black, NY 1975, 1986 Pocket Books, NY 1977 White Lion, London 1982 Large type, Reprint: Macmillan Library Reference 1988 Chivers, Bath, England 1994, 1995 Harper Collins Publishers, United States | |
| 6. Last date in print? | The last date in print is 1995. It is no longer in print
and in some cases, it is out of stock indefinitely. | |
| 7. Total copies sold? | unkown | |
| 8. Sales by year? | unknown | |
| 9. Advertising copy: | On April 12, 1924, a letter applauding Zane Grey's latest
novel appeared in Publisher's Weekly. The top in bold letters reads: "ANOTHER RECORD SMASHED!" The letter exclaims how many copies of The Call of the Canyon this tiny library has ordered because of all the enthusiastic reports. In the margins, Harper & Brother advertisers have written: "The Call of the Canyon is the best seller, the most popular library book, and the best, safest and most profitable buy you can make." | |
| 10. Image of sample advertisement | A210191000221215451.jpg | |
| 11. Other promotion? | N/A | |
| 12. Performances in other media? | Film: The Call of the Canyon, Paramount, 1925, Victor Fleming
Sound cassettes: 1986 G.K. Hall Audio Publishers: Boston , Mass 1987 Chivers Audio Books: Bath, England | |
| 13. Translations? | Kanjonin kutsu, Published in Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtio
kirja, 1926 | |
| 14. Serialization? | Ladies' Home Journal, Vol. 38, no. 11-12-Vol. 39, no. 1-2
(Nov.-Dec, 1921, Jan-Feb, 1922) | |
| 15. Sequels or Prequels? | N/A | |
| Assignment 3: Brief Biography | ||
| (see Krause’s Brief Biography on The Man of the Forrest for
overview of the author’s life Zane Grey’s novels hovered at the pinnacle of the bestsellers list from 1915 through the mid 1920’s, outsold only by McGruffy’s readers and the Bible. The Call of the Canyon falls within this prosperity and helped to produce an acclaimed name for Grey. It was, however, only one book of 89 that was published under this outdoorsman author (Jackson). It would be difficult to hold the spot for the most popular book in this amazing career as a whole with so many choices, especially since Zane Grey was the 3rd best-seller in American literary history. This pedestal is honored to Riders of the Purple Sage, which has now sold more than 1,215,000 copies in hard covers alone (Gruber). Grey’s novels have reached more scholarly attention after his death. Once these stories were simply a vehicle for a middle class audience who couldn’t afford to go West to live vicariously through Zane Grey. Now, teachers acknowledge the academic value of their romantic moods of simpler times. Specifically, The Call of the Canyon falls under the Desert Novel category of Grey’s writings. This harsh but beautiful landscape is where Grey believed man’s fortitude and character were tested. The trials of the land either develops and flourishes a man’s brilliant traits, or else it makes a beast of his negative traits. This theme correlates with the events surrounding the publication of this novel. The American society was a swiftly changing social scene. Many were tired of the fast pace drinking and dancing scene. The middle class readers enjoyed the visions of the West and the condemnation of urban life. People used Grey’s escapist literature to lull themselves into times forgotten (Jackson). Another event that shaped the plot of The Call of the Canyon was the American sentiment of the treatment of veterans of World War II (May). Grey explores the mental anguish of Glenn Kilbourne after his arrival back in the United States. Converting from a soldier’s life to a businessman was unacceptable, thus causing his escape to the deserts of Arizona. In 1918, Zane Grey set up a permanent homestead in the West and moved his family with him (Jackson). Perhaps the courage and love of his wife, Dolly, over the wild and fierce country provided influence for the heroine, Carley Burke. Against the social advisories for a youngwoman, Dolly and Carley face the rough roads alone to meet there love in the Western desert. Maybe Grey’s sentiments of the West as a romantic idea as well as geography helped to sustain such a long relationship with his publisher, Harper & Brothers. They published one of his novels just about every year. After his death in 1939, there were still enough unpublished manuscripts of Zane Grey’s to publish one every year until they exhausted the supply in 1953 (Jackson). | ||
| Assignment 4 | ||
| Contemporary Reception: | ||
| Critical debate over Zane Grey's place in the literary world
erupted after his continued success in novel writing. Some critics believe his novels are not realistic, pointing out that his stories were melodramatic and his characters weren't complete. Other critics apologize for his faults, but attempt to highlight contributions to the literary world with his creation of the mysterious and alienated figure of the heroic gunfighter or outlaw. Although Grey has sold over an estimated 130 million copies of his books to his expansive audience, critics have reacted unfavorably to his writing. *T.K. Whipple; 'American Sagas, 1925: "Mr. Grey has received justice only from his millions of devoted readers-…The critics and reviewers have been persistently upstage in their treatment of Mr. Grey; they have lectured him for lacking qualities which there is no reason for him to possess, and have ignored most of the qualities in which he is conspicuous." *Booklist 20:300 My'24: "He kneads his material just a little too thoroughly in order to make it palatable for his Eastern guests. His characters are almost all a trifle too self- conscious, too aware of the fact that they are going to make up the spicy ingredients of a book, that they are to add the taste to the feast of the whole massive scenery. True enough, the bulk is of the 'Gold Medal' brand-but it is a brand. It was not ground at an individual mill, but rather is of the wholesale type that will please the known need of the conventional many." *NY Times; Jan 27, 1924: "Perhaps Carley's 'butterfly' life in Manhattan is too dark a spot in the picture. But the reader does not worry about those slight defects when once Zane Grey's nature descriptions have gripped him. Here scenery does more than fill space. Potent in its influence upon the people of the story, it is a character in itself: the leading character, indeed. The wild, lonely, fearfully beautiful Arizona desert has never been better done." *NY Tribune; Feb 3, 1924: "The story will please Mr. Grey's following for it is rather better than some of his recent books. The descriptions are vividly colored, but the romance is only mildly interesting." The Times [London]; Feb 7, 1924: "Mr. Grey writes with greater psychological insight than is to be found in the majority of such stories." TCLC vol 6 T.K. Whipple, "American Sagas", 1925, Study out the Land: Essays" Book Review Digest: 1924 | ||
| Subsequent Reception: | ||
| Recently, critics have become receptive of Zane Grey's works.
They suggest that Grey should be approached as a writer of romance, a peculiar literary genre outside the rules and criteria of realism. Critics still point to Zane Grey's many faults and stress his inability to reconcile the opposites of his romantic idealism and his social Darwinism in any meaningful way, but they now recognize the impact on the American reading public. Grey gave people what they wanted. *Carlton Jackson; Zane Grey, Revised Edition, 1989: "Perhaps the most significant development is that teachers of English literature seem to have a new interest in Zane Grey. Generally in the past, English teachers have treated the western novelist with disdain, denying him any consideration as a serious member of literati. Since a few English teachers at least believe their curriculum should, to some extent, reflect the times in which they live and the interests they embody, Zane Grey's works have begun to receive more academic attention than in the past"(p. ix) *May; Zane Grey: Romancing the West, 1997: "Because the phrase "western novel" has traditionally had a pejorative ring to it, Grey and his colleagues have attracted little recent critical attention. One reason clearly is that Grey's brand of romance is out of fashion. In an age that prizes realism and anti- heroism, Grey's distressed women and rescuing knights seem somewhat ludicrous. I have tried to explain in this book that any critical understanding of Grey must include a background in the romance form, for Grey was firstly a writer of romances and secondly a writer of westerns."(p. xv) Carlton Jackson, _Zane Grey, Revised Edition_ May, _Zane Grey: Romancing the West_ | ||
| Assignment 5 | ||
| Critical Essay: | ||
| Introduction
Zane Grey is perhaps one of the most popular and prolific authors of Western romances. During his lifetime he sold nearly twenty million copies of his novels, and since his death in 1939, readers have bought at least another twenty million (Scott). His idealistic tales and detailed descriptions of nature have clearly touched an impressive, worldwide audience. Grey reached the height of his fame during the World War I years and the 1920's. In the ten-year period between 1915 and 1924, a Grey novel was on the best-seller list every year except one. Theme to Fame It seems appropriate to research Zane Grey's novel themes that accelerated him to the highest pedestal among his readers. Critics have labeled Grey's fiction as escapist and sentimental (Gruber). Grey affirmed that he did indeed offer idealistic beliefs in the goodness of man, in the benevolence of nature, and in the role of women as the conscious of the race (May). This last facet is intriguing after reading one of his novels published in 1924, The Call of the Canyon. After spending an entire novel on the inner-monologue of the heroine, Carley Burch, Grey's philosophies on women deserve exploration. The Call of the Canyon tells the story of Glenn Killbourne and his escape to the West to heal his spirit and health after WWI. He becomes caught up in the lure of the mountains and canyons of Arizona and establishes himself as a hog farmer. The main character and fiancé, Carley Burch travels West in search of her lover with intentions of returning with him home to their fast-paced urban world in New York. After a several month reunion in Arizona, Carley finally leaves him, but not before buying land in the Arizona desert. Grey's theme of a traditional family unit is channeled through the leading man, Glenn. This staunch lover of work and duty and a healer of life's problems lectures his fiancé, Carley, on his opinion of the wastes of good women to the lazy, rich, risqué, urban world. As a girl, before you were claimed by the world, you were earnest at heart. You had big hopes and dreams. And you had intellect, too. But you have wasted your talents, Carley. Having money, and spending it, living for pleasure, you have not realized your powers… Now, don't look hurt. I'm not censuring you. It's just the way of modern life. And most of your friends have been more careless, thoughtless, use-less than you. The aim of their existence is to be comfortable, free from work, worry, pain. They want pleasure, luxury. And what a pity it is! The best of you girls regard marriage as an escape, instead of responsibility. You don't marry to get your shoulders square against the old wheel of American progress-to help some man make good-to bring a troop of healthy American kids into the world. You bare your shoulders to the gaze of the multitude and like it best if you are strung with pearls (154). Singular passages taken out of Glenn's entire philosophy and lifestyle imply a step backward for the feminist movement. It seems preposterous that a writer can achieve such acclaim and acknowledgement from a universal audience if his ideas and lessons are retro-progressive. On the contrary, instead of an anti-feminist view that restricts women's liberty, Zane Grey's relationship with his wife Dolly and two main female characters, Flo and Carley, example an egalitarian approach to the American family ideal. DOLLY; Zane Grey's wife In his real life, Zane Grey maintained a loving and close marriage with Lina Elise "Dolly" Roth. Dolly was the greatest influence in Grey's life. She was instrumental as his editor and copyist, as well as chief emotional supporter (May). In the beginning of his career, she saw him through failure, depression, more failure, and brief success. He sought her approval on all his work because he highly esteemed her literary and personal opinion (Jackson). Grey treated Dolly with the utmost respect from a husband to a wife. He found the greatest comfort in her. Grey may have been a traditionalist at heart, but his respect and equal footing with his adored wife transcended into his writing. Dolly Grey set the standard for the women of Zane's works (May). When the heroic male characters paralleled Zane's own adventurous travels, the devotion and love for women stemmed from his own relationship with Dolly. In spite of the vicissitudes of fortune, the love between Dolly and Zane Grey was deep, passionate, and enduring. It was unabashed, open, and ardent. He never wrote a letter to her in which he did not express his love for her; this was as true in 1902, three years before they were married, as it was in the 1930's. In all their letters, even when Zane is stung by a letter of hers, there is always the final declaration of love, and it is virtually always more than just a casual signature (Gruber). Dolly's opinion and work on Grey's novels is only one example of his trust and value of her as a person of equal weight. He split his royalty checks with her and entrusted financial affairs to her. Grey would take leave and travel for as long as six months at a time, in which Dolly was the governess of her own life and affairs (Kimball). The time apart was trying, but undaunting for their marriage. Grey writes: "Let no man ever doubt the faith and spirit and love of a woman" (Jackson). Several times she traveled by herself to Europe on vacation. As much as they were apart, the couple always managed to write long love letters to one another almost daily. Even after a ten-hour day of fishing, Zane would still find time for a stint of Western writing and then a letter to Dolly. On one fishing trip in the Florida Keys, Zane writes Dolly about his guilt of abandoning her and the children for his work. He asks her if she minds if he visits Arizona before he returns. She replies that she would be disappointed if he did not (May). This strong and independent woman commands Grey's love and devotion. She supports Grey as a partner in life. She doesn't lean on him for life's happiness. She draws from within her rich nature for guidance and truth in which she can contribute to their marriage. Grey evidently sees this virtue in his wife when he writes that women "were cursed with lesser bodies [than men] and blessed with higher souls" (May). In 1918, Grey moved his entire family to the southern part of California. Over the journey, Dolly wrote Zane everyday of her travels. In all, her letters tally more than 80 pages (Kimball). Since most of Grey's female characters are based on Dolly, perhaps, it's safe to assume that this exodus West to join her lover parallels Carley in his bestseller The Call of the Canyon. Carley faces strenuous traveling and bravely approaches the strange, unconquered West head-on. Since she is a young beautiful female traveling alone across the nation, she must use extra caution and sense in each new town and situation. Dolly's diary to her husband must reflect these sentiments. "For some months she kept a meticulous record of the day-by-day events of interest"(Gruber). Dolly had the money, family background, and independence to do whatever she wanted in life. She chose to move West to be with her famous literary husband out of love and duty. Grey understands his wife's options and motivations and takes effort to highlight the same decision for the fictional Carley. Through Dolly, Grey sees women as an equal sex, capable of enduring hardships and decisions. His traditional views in The Call of the Canyon are not anti-feminist because of his wife's strong influence. His characters, Flo and Carley, span this same egalitarian theme in the novel. FLO-whethered western beauty Flo is the stock, honest Western girl of the novel. She has fallen in love with the Easterner war veteran, Glenn, during the year before Carley's arrival to Arizona. Upon meeting her, Carley realizes the competition for her fiancé and tries to subdue her jealous bone. At the doorway they encountered a girl of lithe and robust figure, quick in her movements. Carley was swift to see the youth and grace of her; and then a face that struck Carley as neither pretty nor beautiful, but still wonderfully attractive. "Oh, Carley, I'm shore happy to meet you!" said the girl, in a voice of slow drawling richness. "I know you. Glenn has told me all about you." If this greeting, sweet and warm as it seemed, was a shock to Carley, she gave no sign. But as she murmured something in reply she looked with all a woman's keenness into the face before her. Flo Hutter had a fair skin generously freckled; a mouth and chin too firmly cut to suggest a softer feminine beauty; and eyes of clear light hazel, penetrating, frank, fearless….Carley liked the girl's looks and liked the sincerity of her greeting; but instinctively she reacted antagonistically because of the frank suggestion of intimacy with Glenn (29). Flo Hutter epitomizes the Western girl and her unbounded actions throughout the novel reveal what Grey believed was acceptable for women. Flo Hutter rides horses and works just as hard as the men do. Her decisions are respected. She will also be the heir of a huge ranch. Although attractive and endearing, Flo can challenge the men in physical activity since she has been reared in such wild territory. One day as Glenn and Carley ride horseback, they begin to speed up their pace. "Swerving back into his saddle, he spurred his horse and called back over his shoulder: "That mustang and Flo have beaten me many a time. Come on." Carley is challenged to live up to Flo's strong example. The men don't have room for a weak woman in the West. Since Flo, and eventually Carley can physically keep up with the men, they are treated with respect. Before Carley became accustomed and accepting of the Western way of life, strife surmounted in the young couples' relationship. He took her hand in his and pressed it, and smiled at her. "Yes, Carley, it's a beautiful, soft little hand. But I think I'd like it better if it were strong and brown, and coarse on the inside-from useful work." "Like Flo Hutter's?" queried Carley. "Yes."(46) Grey believes that the West and the desert are great equalizers of humans. Men and women must work together to survive, thus leaving no room for incapable whining women. Supporting the growth of women in this manner is not 'pro' or 'anti' women; it's pro-human and pro-life. Out West, it's not a matter of who has more rights or who is treated equally...it's a matter of survival and dependence on each other to work together as one unit. CARLEY-Eastern flower This is the life lesson that Glenn must teach Carley in order for her to give up her urban, materialistic world of the East. First, Carley must roughen up her fragile beauty to survive out West. During her first overnight horse ride, Carley does not complain of her pain for sheer vanity. "Carley hated to betray what a weakling she was, so she resigned herself to her fate, and imagined she felt her fingers numbing into ice, and her sensitive nose slowly and painfully freezing" (67). A few months later, Carley's boldness is evolving; she begins to take pride in overcoming another challenge of nature. When the hard dusty gusts hit her, she found it absolutely necessary to shut her eyes. She got her eyes full of dust-an alkali dust that made them sting and smart. The fiercer puffs of wind carried pebbles large enough to hurt severely. Then the dust clogged her nose and sand got between her teeth. Added to these annoyances was a heat like a blast form a furnace. Carley perspired freely and that caked the dust on her face. She rode on, gradually growing more uncomfortable and miserable. Yet even then she did not utterly lose a sort of thrilling zest in being thrown upon her own responsibility. She could hate an obstacle, yet feel something of pride in holding her own against it (144). Once Carley accepts the West, she starts to reap its benefits. She is healthy, tan, happy, and in love. She has also gained the respect of the Western girl, Flo, and won Glenn's affections. Grey simplifies life for this woman. She no longer needs her pretty clothes, money, or superficial friends. Being stripped of these luxuries does not take away the liberty or equality of women. These challenges teach the benefits of hard work and duty, regardless of sex. Her final admonition of the contrite Eastern world is her chastisement of her friends: "Nothing wrong!" cried Carley, "nothing for you women to make right? You are blind as bats. Nothing wrong when women with the vote might rid politics of partisanship, greed, crookedness? Nothing wrong when prohibition is mocked by women-when the greatest boon ever granted this country is derided and beaten down and cheated? ……You doll women, you parasites, you toys of men, you silken-wrapped geisha girls, you painted, idle, purring cats, you parody of the females of your species- find brains enough if you can to see the doom hanging over you and revolt before it is too late!"(249) Carley has finally realized Glenn's love for work and raising children together. Perhaps, she has finally merged with Grey's ideal of his pedestal wife, Dolly. Both women travel across the country to find their love. Both realize that life is more meaningful with hard work and duty to family. Grey's ideology focuses on this traditional family bond that supports the growth of an independent women. Grey, Zane. The Call of the Canyon. Grosset & Dunlap: New York, NY,1952. Gruber, Frank. Zane Grey, a biography. The World Publishing Company: New York and Cleveland, 1970. Hamilton, Cynthia. Western and Hard-boiled Detective Finstion in America. The Macmillan Press Ltd: London, 1987. Jackson, Carlton. Zane Grey, Revised Edition. Twayne Publishers: Boston, 1989. May, Stephen. Zane Grey: Romancing the West. Ohio University Press: Ohio, 1997. Scott, Kenneth. Zane Grey, a Reference Guide. G.K. Hall & Co.: Boston, 1979. http://www.zanegreysws.org/zgwsmenu.htm | ||
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