The Great Idaho Novel

I asked the poet Jim Irons for his view on The Great Idaho Novel; he passed the question on to his old writing instructor from Boise State University, Tom Trusky, who shared this response:

I'd suggest two Idaho authors, classic and contemporary: Vardis Fisher for the former, Tom Spanbauer for the latter. Fisher's first novel, Toilers of the Hills, subsequent tetralogy (whose titles come from George Meredith's "Modern Love"), and then his Dark Bridwell--all six are called his "Antelope Hills novels"--are set in Eastern Idaho. They capture Idaho life and landscape there unto the 1930s.

Spanbauer's best novel is probably The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon and it draws on Idaho history and contemporary life in a town based on Atlanta, in central Idaho. However, Spanbauer's fourth and newest novel--forthcoming in May--is Now Is the Hour, and it beautifully captures life in and around Pocatello, Idaho in the 1950s-1960s.

Tom Trusky is Professor of English at Boise State University and Director of the Hemingway Western Studies Center, Idaho Center for the Book, and the Idaho Film Collection.

Thanks to Tom and Jim for the help.

--Marshal Zeringue

For The Great Kansas Novel, click here.
For The Great Alaska Novel, click here.
For The Great Texas Novel, part 2, click here.
For The Great New York (City) Novel, click here.
For The Great Florida Novel, click here.
For The Great Illinois Novel, click here.
For The Great Michigan Novel, part 1, click here; part 2, click here.
For The Great California Novel, click here.
For The Great Oregon Novel, click here.
For The Great Texas Novel, part1, click here.
For The Great Louisiana Novel, click here.