A River Runs Through It
Posted on 2004-05-04 at 08:04
It has been a while since I talked about the book A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. It's one of the best works of fiction written in the English language. This book, but particularly its title novella, takes the reader not only on a trip through the world of fly-fishing, but through the trip of a life well lived. Maclean's work tackles the difficult question: how does man relate to the world around himself? This is not just the culmination of an author's hard work, it is the culmination of a lifetime of experiences, rolled over in his mind till the full meaning of those experiences is understood. One need not enjoy fishing to appreciate the stories of this masterpiece. It isn't even about fishing. It's about love, art, faith, doubt, charity and all the other myriad things which infest the life of ordinary man. The University of Chicago Press does not publish fiction works as a rule. It's worth the time spent reading to find out why they broke that rule with Norman Maclean.