Thomas Savage
Thomas Savage was an American novelist born in 1915 in Salt Lake City, Utah, who had a notable yet underrecognized literary career spanning over four decades. He authored thirteen novels, most famously the PEN/Faulkner Award-nominated *The Corner of Rife and Pacific*, which was celebrated for its eloquent prose and deep exploration of the human condition. Savage’s writing, often categorized within the Western genre, was informed by his early experiences as a ranch hand and skilled laborer. Despite critical acclaim, his works did not achieve commercial success, leading him to supplement his income by teaching English at several institutions, including Suffolk University and Brandeis University. His later works, particularly *I Heard My Sister Speak My Name*, reissued as *The Sheep Queen*, and *The Power of the Dog*, gained renewed attention before his passing in 2003. Savage's narratives are characterized by their moral sensibility and dry humor, making significant contributions to American literature, particularly in the representation of Western life. His legacy includes not only his novels but also an honorary M.F.A. degree and a Guggenheim fellowship, reflecting his impact on the literary community.
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Thomas Savage
Author
- Born: April 25, 1915
- Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah
- Died: July 25, 2003
- Place of death: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Biography
A PEN/Faulkner Award nominee for his 1988 Western novel, The Corner of Rife and Pacific, American novelist Thomas Savage wrote thirteen novels during a forty-five-year-long career. His works were critically praised but never achieved best-seller status.
Born in 1915 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Savage worked as a ranch hand and skilled laborer for much of his youth. He attended the University of Montana during the 1932-1933 academic year, but did not graduate from college until he received a B.A. from Colby College in 1940. His experience with ranching influenced his writing, and he produced a number of literary Western novels that critics praised for their sensitivity to representing the human condition and their moral sensibility.
Savage’s prose received acclaim for its elegance and dry humor, but Savage always wished he had been able to write popular and financially successful novels. He was not able to earn a living entirely from his fiction, and to supplement his income and support his family he taught English at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1946 to 1949 and then at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, from 1949 to 1955. He later held short-term teaching posts at Franconia College and Vassar College.
In 1981, Savage published a novel titled Her Side of It. The narrator details the life of a friend and failed writer, Elizabeth Chandler Phillips, who moves to Washington take care of her mentally ill father. His most critically successful book was undoubtedly his last novel, the PEN/Faulkner-nominated The Corner of Rife and Pacific, which was also a Critic Corner selection for the Literary Guild. The book was named one of Publishers Weekly’s fifteen best novels of 1988 and received the 1989 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award. Set from 1890 to 1920, The Corner of Rife and Pacific concerned the life of John Metlen, the founder of a small community in Montana. Part of the allure of the nominated book was the smooth writing and satisfying style.
Savage’s work enjoyed a resurgence of popularity shortly before his death, with his most popular book, 1977’s semiautobiographical I Heard My Sister Speak My Name, reissued in 2001 as The Sheep Queen, along with a new edition of The Power of the Dog, a Western novel the San Francisco Chronicle considered the “best book” of 1967. Savage received an honorary M.F.A. degree from his alma mater in 1952 and was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 1980. He died in 2003 at his daughter’s home in Virginia Beach.