FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Chris Cauble, 406-449-0200
Montana teenager’s book shocked the world 100
years ago
Classic Montana book reprinted for its 100th
anniversary
A classic Montana
book has been brought back into print by two Montana
publishers. “The Story of Mary MacLane,” a powerful book that turned a young
woman from Butte into a worldwide
celebrity, has just been released by the Montana Historical Society Press and
Riverbend Publishing, both of Helena.
"Reading ‘The Story of Mary
MacLane’ will change people's perceptions of what Montana
literature is,” said Martha Kohl, editor of MHS Press. “For this reason—and
based on its own merits—we felt this classic, radically modernist work deserved
to be put back in print."
“Story”
shocked the literary world when it was first published in 1902. Within one
month it had sold 100,000 copies, an astonishing number then and now. Within a
few years it had been translated into 36 languages, and writers such as Ernest
Hemingway, Hart Crane, and Gertrude Stein lauded it as an important influence
in their quests for a new American style.
The
author was a 19-year-old girl from the raw, masculine mining town of Butte.
With the publication of
“Story,” MacLane became an overnight sensation. She was
called the
“Wild Woman of Butte,” a Bohemian, a radical, a feminist, a rebel. Although MacLane went on to write other books, none had the impact
of “Story,” which was—and is—fresh, frank, and funny. Readers are swept along
in a breath-taking tour de force about life, love, and longing that is as
powerful today as it was provocative when first published.
“It’s a wild
ride,” Riverbend publisher Chris Cauble said. “When I first read it I couldn’t
put it down. I knew it needed to be back in print for a new audience.”
“Story” went out of print in the 1920s. It was
only available again in a collection of MacLane’s work in 1991. This edition is
reprinted from the original 1902 printing. It is the fifth title in MHS Press
and Riverbend Publishing’s Western History Classics series.
This edition
features a fascinating description of MacLane’s life and work by Dr. Julia
Watson, the first director of the Women’s Studies program at the University
of Montana and currently an
associate professor in the Department of Comparative Studies at the Ohio
State University.
Watson writes that “Story” is a “narrative of the coming of age of a young
woman” and her writing “is a performance.” Watson’s authoritative essay
includes a biography of MacLane’s flamboyant life, including her many loves and
passions, a literary analysis of MacLane’s influence on modern literature, and
a description of MacLane’s dramatic relationship with Butte.
Jackie Corr, Butte's well-known literary and historical critic who has
researched MacLane, said, “Mary MacLane made our community and
our lives a little richer. She gave rather than grabbed. And if she made a lot
of money and lost most or all of it—and she did—and if she had problems with
alcohol and gambling—and she did—well, she was first and last a Butte girl and she
was noted for her generosity to Butte people, both here and in Chicago and New
York. She was and is one of us and that decides the issue.”
“The Story of Mary MacLane” sells for $12.95
and is available from bookstores, the Montana
Historical Society
Museum store, or by calling
Riverbend Publishing toll-free 1-866-787-2363.
The Story of
Mary MacLane by Herself
256 pages, 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches, paperback, ISBN 1-931832-19-6
Riverbend Publishing and the Montana Historical Society Press