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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Dark Brilliance",
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This review is from: Rediscovering Vardis Fisher: Centennial Essays (Hardcover)
This volume is a collection of essays critiquing the work of Vardis Fisher, and paying tribute to him in his centennial. An excellent job this tribute was, too, in it's own right, as it moves through Fisher's eventful, sorrowful yet vastly rewarding life and times and noting the legacy of free thought and immense insight into human activities he left for those of us who remember, have him in our personal libraries, and intend to bring his work to the attention of our own children and grandchildren. It is a shame that this extremely gifted writer has been all but lost to new readers and I would hope that some day his work may be collected into the Library of America and given everlasting literary life since he certainly is deserving of it. He did gain a broad measure of success, especially in his "Mountain Man" which Robert Redford immortalized for him to the viewing public; but not the lasting regard due someone of his stature, nor did it come in time to give him financial gain. I would encourage any reader looking for something immortal and far beyond the paperback section to give him a try.
The first impression a new reader might get from picking up one of Vardis Fisher's novels, is the comparison of the photos of him, from intense, burning eyes of youth to the haggard face of a self-made man come full circle with still much left to do and not enough time remaining to do it in; the haunting difference that time has wrought upon a noble face. Vardis Fisher appealed to me as one of the most fascinating writers of the last century. Perhaps some of it arose from the fact that he was one of our own; coming from Idaho, which borders my state; being raised in true Western early culture that shaped not only his literary direction but his intense, thought provoking intellect as well. He was, in my view, and undoubtedly in the views of others, somewhat of an outlaw himself before it became fashionable to be known as one; meant in the figurative sense of the word, deserving of the truest form of respect because of it, not despite it. He seemed to be influenced by very few other viewpoints, although it does appear from the accounts of others that Robert Briffault, in his anthropological writings may have been one of them. His perception of human nature, what shaped and motivated it, and the power that environment held over its subjects was keen; and one wonders if his brother may also have been one of the few who managed to influence his insight into such characters as Charley Bridwell (Dark Bridwell), as the brother had become a psychologist and undoubtedly, the two must have discussed the mysteries of life and how it had influenced them as family members usually do. "Dark Bridwell" was one of my favorites, and I did a review of it awhile back. It was brilliant is it's unparalleled delving into the mind of a manipulative, cunning person, operating under a facade of amiability; in it's uncovering of how some insecure men manage to hold women hostage by underscoring the woman's own insecurities, not through force as some male personalities might do, but through reinforcement to the female of a discovered weakness, effectively turned to advantage because he "does things for her". When accompanied by desperation, it is easy enough to see how it might happen, and the reader usually knows someone who has been in the same situation, now explained. It was amazing to me that a male writer could uncover these ideas and bring them to the surface by understanding them so well. I applaud Joseph M. Flora for putting this collection together for Vardis Fisher's posterity.
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