The Spectator Bird

wallace stegner

This tour-de-force of American literature and a winner of the National Book Award is a profound, intimate, affecting novel from one of the most esteemed literary minds of the last century and a beloved chronicler of the West.

Joe Allston is a cantankerous, retired literary agent who is, in his own words, "just killing time until time gets around to killing me". His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, has not been his choice. He has passed through life as a spectator, before retreating to the woods of California in the 1970s with only his wife, Ruth, by his side.

When an unexpected postcard from a long-lost friend arrives, Allston returns to the journals of a trip he has taken years before, a journey to his mother's birthplace where he once sought a link with his past. Uncovering this history floods Allston with memories, both grotesque and poignant, and finally vindicates him of his past and lays bare that Joe Allston has never been quite spectator enough.

Genres fictionclassicsliterary fictionbook clubaudiobookliteraturenovelsamericandenmarkadult fiction

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1976

Literary awards

national book award, california book award,

Places

denmark, copenhagen, california,

This edition

Format: 214 pages, Paperback
Published: November 1, 1990 by Penguin
ISBN: 9780140139402
ASIN: 0140139400
Language: English

Characters More characters

About the author

wallace stegner

Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist. Some call him "The Dean of Western Writers." He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.