Jack Schaefer
Jack Warner Schaefer (SHAY-fur) is recognized as a notable storyteller and writer of the American West in the twentieth century, despite a lack of academic recognition for his works as significant contributions to American fiction. Born to parents who nurtured his love for reading, Schaefer began his literary career in high school and continued through college before shifting focus to journalism and education. He experienced personal changes, including two marriages and raising four children, which influenced his life and work.
Schaefer's writing is characterized by clarity, simplicity, and a dedication to historical accuracy, with his most famous novel, "Shane," originally serialized in a magazine. He authored numerous other novels, nonfiction works, and articles throughout his career, reflecting his passion for the spirit of the American West. Despite being likened to renowned regional writers, he has often been viewed merely as a storyteller rather than a major literary figure. Nonetheless, his commitment to detailed storytelling and complex human conflicts has established him as a significant voice in Western literature. Readers of Western novels often regard "Shane" as his most exemplary work.
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Jack Schaefer
American novelist
- Born: November 19, 1907
- Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
- Died: January 24, 1991
- Place of death: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Biography
General readers and historians have accepted Jack Warner Schaefer(SHAY-fur) as both a gifted twentieth century storyteller and a writer of the American West. However, academics have largely ignored his works as major American fiction. His parents, Carl Walter Schaefer, a lawyer, and Minnie Luella Hively Schaefer, were avid readers who instilled in the young boy a love of words and reading.
Schaefer’s writing career began as editor of his high school literary magazine and continued after he entered Oberlin College in 1935 and through part of his graduate study at Columbia University. Because of his biased interest in motion pictures, his proposed thesis plan on the development of the movie industry was not approved. This proved a turning point in Schaefer’s literary pursuits. Leaving the university after one semester, he worked in journalism and education. In 1931 he married Eugenia Hammond Ives and divorced her in 1948. He married Louise Wilhide Dean in 1949, and they had four children. Schaefer lived in several eastern cities, working as a journalist, and wrote Western stories. He moved to Gunnison, Colorado, and later to Cerillos, New Mexico, where he lived until his death.
Throughout Schaefer’s prolific writing career, the characteristics of clarity in detail, simplicity, conciseness, and originality based on scholarly and historical research continued. His first book, Shane, began as a three-part serial story for Argosy magazine. He wrote numerous other novels, both long and short. He also produced nonfiction books, articles for journals and trade magazines, and numerous newspaper articles and columns.
Despite his love for historical accuracy and detail as well as the spirit of the American West, Schaefer did not receive critical acclaim from his contemporaries. Though compared often to regional writers such as William Faulkner, Owen Wister, Willa Cather, and Stephen Crane, he was always considered just a storyteller of Western tales and not an American fiction writer. His lifelong quest for accuracy in detail, factual accounting of historical events in a fictionalized story, and strong characters with basic human conflicts marks Schaefer as perhaps the most significant writer of Western stories. Many Western novel readers consider Schaefer’s first novel, Shane, his best work.
Bibliography
Beetz, Kirk H., ed. “Jack Schaefer.” In Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Osprey, Fla.: Beacham, 1996. Brief biography and bibliography.
Folsom, James K. The American Western Novel. New Haven, Conn.: College & University Press, 1966. Brief summary of Schaefer’s contribution to the Western novel.
Haslam, Gerald W. “Jack Schaefer.” In Twentieth-Century American Western Writers, edited by Richard H. Cracroft. Vol. 212 in Dictionary of Literary Bibliography. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Comprehensive biography and analysis of Schaefer’s techniques and accomplishments.
Haslam, Gerald W. “Shane: Twenty-five Years Later.” Western American Literature 9 (Fall, 1974): 215-216. Short tribute to Shane and its place in American Western fiction.
Mikkelsen, Robert. “The Western Writer: Jack Schaefer’s Use of the Western Frontier.” The Western Humanities Review 8 (Spring, 1954): 151-155. Analyzes Schaefer’s fictionalization of the American West—its people, animals, and land.
Schaefer, Jack. “An Interview with Jack Schaefer.” Interview by Henry Joseph Nuwer. The South Dakota Review 11 (Spring, 1973): 48-58. A brief synopsis of the beginning and the ending of Schaefer’s writing career.
Schaefer, Jack. Shane: The Critical Edition. Edited by James C. Work. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Includes essays, journal articles, and research related to Schaefer’s novel Shane, his other Western novels, and use of the American frontier. Complete original version of Shane included.
Scott, Winfield Townley. Introduction to The Collected Stories of Jack Schaefer. New York: Arbor House, 1966. Notes and analyzes the strengths of Schaefer’s Western stories.