From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portrait of Mary Hunter Austin by Charles Fletcher Lummis, c. 1900

Mary Hunter Austin (September 9, 1868 – August 13, 1934) was an American writer of fiction and non-fiction.

Biography

Mary Hunter Austin was born on September 9, 1868 in Carlinville, Illinois (the fourth of six children) to George and Susannah (Graham) Hunter. She graduated from Blackburn College in 1888. For 17 years she made a special study of Indian life in the Mojave Desert, and her publications set forth the intimate knowledge she thus acquired. She was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist and defender of Native American and Spanish-American rights. She is best known for her tribute to the deserts of the American Southwest, The Land of Little Rain (1903).

Her family moved to California in 1888 and established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She married Stafford Wallace Austin on May 18, 1891 in Bakersfield, California. He was from Hawaii and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Their home in Independence, California, now a historical landmark, was designed and built by the couple.

She and her husband were involved in the local water dispute, where the water of Owens Valley was eventually drained to supply Los Angeles. When their battle was lost, he moved to Death Valley, California, and she moved to Carmel, California. There, she was part of a social circle that included Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and George Sterling and was one of the founders of the Forest Theater.

A 1950 edition of The Land of Little Rain, and a 1977 edition of Taos Pueblo [first published in 1930], both had photographs by Ansel Adams.

Austin died August 13, 1934 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Plays

Her play, The Arrowmaker, dealing with Indian life, was produced at the New Theatre, (New York) in 1911. A Teleplay of The Land of Little Rain was written by Doris Baizley and presented on American Playhouse in 1989, starring Helen Hunt.

Selected bibliography

• The Land of Little Rain (1903), an account of the California Desert. 1512203 full-text edition (Google Books)
• The Basket Woman (1904), a book of Indian myths and fanciful tales for children. 2555698
• Isidro (book) (1905), a romance of Mission days. 3717385
• The Flock (1906), an account of the shepherd industry of California. 2555575
• Santa Lucia (1908), a novel. 1512269
• Lost Borders, the people of the desert (1909). 814150
• The Arrow Maker - A Drama in Three Acts (1911). 4451334
• A Woman of Genius (1912). 8017340
• The Trail Book (1918). 986472
• The American Rhythm (1923). 1511998
• The Land of Journeys' Ending (1924). 1079532
• Everyman's Genius (1925). 1512126
• Lands of the Sun (1927). 1260910
• Taos Pueblo (1930). 3244279
• Experiences Facing Death (1931). 1196907
• Starry Adventure (1931). 985871
• Earth Horizon (1932), autobiography. 283674
• Can Prayer Be Answered? (1934). 1512050
• One-Smoke Stories (1934). 3740559
• One Hundred Miles on Horseback (1887 , 1963) (first published essay 1887, re-published posthumously). 5176720
• Cactus Thorn (1927 , 1988) (written ca. 1927, the novella was published posthumously). 17767275
• From Greenwich Village to Taos (2008). 180756986

External links

• Works by Mary Austin at Project Gutenberg
• The Austins' house, now California Historical Landmark 229
• Mary Austin page, with links to works and reviews.
• Mary Austin at Find-A-Grave
• The Land of Little Rain at the Library of Congress (scanned images and text)
• Works by or about Mary Hunter Austin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Mary Hunter Austin Collection at the Autry National Center