Angle of Repose

If Oliver’s life revolves around mines, then Susan’s revolves around art and literature. Though she begins her life as an artist, Susan soon turns toward writing articles and eventually novels in her quest to finance her family. She documents everything about life out West, and the commissions she receives help keep the family afloat. However, there is a greater symbolic meaning to the literature in her life and Lyman's life.

Large parts of the story are told through Susan’s letters, many of which form the foundations for her literary pursuits. She learns to write these letters—and, by extension, her prose—out of necessity. Separated from the people she loves, she uses her writing to communicate with the life she has left behind. Literature allows Susan to keep alive that part of her personality that is rooted in the East. Through books, she establishes a conversation with her friends, her publishers, and her readers that never ends. Though she is physically in the West, this act of publishing literature allows her to remain—at least in spirit—some way in the East.

Literature provides Susan with a means of forming important bonds with people she meets. At first, it seems a surprise to her that people in mining camps could be well-read. Soon, however, she has found a string of people with whom she can talk about literature, art, and everything else that she has left behind. Oliver does not offer her this outlet, but men like Frank do. Literature is one of the key bonds between Frank and Susan. They talk about books often, and she is impressed to hear his thoughts on whatever they are reading. This helps to establish the romantic connection between the two, as Frank is providing Susan with an intellectual outlet that would never be possible with Oliver. As much as literature is a solace for Susan in one sense, it is a temptation for her in another. The love of literature that she and Frank share kindles the fire of romance between them, eventually leading to the fateful events in 1890.

As well as Susan, Lyman’s life is filled with moments of literary significance. Though he is a historian, he is also the author of several successful books. The process of writing this particular book is different from the others; this is personal to him and important to his future. The act of writing is not just a question of researching distant historical figures, but of investigating the emotional history of his family and applying these lessons to himself. Lyman is disabled and has lost the capacity to do many things, but he can still write. Thus, literature and the writing of a book becomes an emotional outlet for Lyman. The act of writing becomes a motif. Just as it allowed Susan to remain connected to a life she had left behind, it allows Lyman to remain connected to a family he has lost and to an intellectual pursuit that he had worried had left him behind.