Jean Stafford, The Mountain Lion

Cathryn Halverson (Södertörn University)

Ed. by Sofia Ahlberg, Uppsala University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication Mar 1947

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Jean Stafford’s most critically acclaimed novel,

The Mountain Lion,

portrays a bookish twelve-year-old tragically misplaced in raw western territory. It opens with Molly and Ralph Fausett, aged eight and ten and so similar as to appear almost like twins, living in the suburbs of southern California with their genteel mother and older sisters. At the onset of their adolescence, the widowed Mrs. Fawcett decides to disband the household in order to take her elder daughters on a grand world tour. Molly and Ralph are to spend the year at a half-uncle’s Colorado ranch, where they have previously only summered.

Brother and sister begin to go separate ways at the ranch. On the brink of adolescence, Ralph is drawn into a sexualized world of macho outdoor pursuits, with his new allegiances

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1547 words

Citation: Halverson, Cathryn. "The Mountain Lion". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 August 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=29980, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Jean Stafford, The Mountain Lion

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