Beyond the Glass Mountain (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wallace Stegner
- First Published: 1947
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: May during the late 1940's
- Setting: Iowa City, Iowa
- Principal Characters: Mark Aker, Mel Cottam, Tamsen Cottam, Canby
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Friendship, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Substance abuse, Adultery, Success or failure
- Locales: Iowa City, IA
The Story
Superficially, the situation in “Beyond the Glass Mountain” is an American commonplace. It concerns a very brief reunion of Mark Aker, a Yale University medical professor and researcher, with his former college friend Mel Cottam, a small businessperson in Iowa City, Iowa, after a seventeen-year separation. The reunion begins for Mark with a nostalgic return to Iowa City and his recollections of the college town and the college world that gave him “the best days of his life.” He returns, also, in response to what he perceives is a call for help from Mel. He...
[The entire page is 1829 words long]
