The Sea Of Grass

by Conrad Richter

Published in 1936, this novel presents in epic scope the conflicts in the settling of the American Southwest. Set in New Mexico in the late 19th century, The Sea of Grass concerns the often violent clashes between the pioneering ranchers, whose cattle range freely through the vast sea of grass, and the farmers, or "nesters," who build fences and turn the sod. Against this background is set the triangle of rancher Colonel Jim Brewton, his unstable Eastern wife Lutie, and the ambitious Brice Chamberlain. Richter casts the story in Homeric terms, with the children caught up in the conflicts of their parents.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Westerns, Classics, American, Literary Fiction, Historical

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Conrad Michael Richter (October 13, 1890 – October 30, 1968) was an American novelist whose lyrical work is concerned largely with life on the American frontier in various periods. His novel The Town (1950), the last story of his trilogy The Awakening Land about the Ohio frontier, won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[1] His novel The Waters of Kronos won the 1961 National Book Award for Fiction.[2] Two collections of short stories were published posthumously during the 20th century, and several of his novels have been reissued during the 21st century by academic presses. (wikipedia.org)

Reviews

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghettizzare questo romanzo dello scrittore americano Conrad Ritcher [1890-1968] nel mare infinito dei romanzi “western” d’avventura, dei pistoleri e dei saloon, sarebbe un grave errore di valutazione perché quest’opera narrativa scritta nel 1936 racconta una realtà familiare, quella che viene narrata in prima persona dal giovanissimo Hal, il nipote orfano adottato da Jim Brewton, detto il colonnello, un grande allevatore di bovini, prepotente e arrogante, sempre aggressivo e violento verso chi osa coltivare le terre dove pascolano le sue mandrie, che in età ormai matura sposa la giovane e affascinante Lutie, convinto di plagiare con le buone maniere e il fascino personale anche la bella moglie…con una narrazione pacata e sensibile lo scrittore illumina il romanzo di una luce romantica raccontando una storia di illusioni, caparbia ostinazione e solitudine interiore.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lusty pioneer blood is tamed now, broken and gelded like the wild horse and the frontier settlement



I agree with whichever reviewer said that this story needs a mow.

1.5*

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, many authors would have written this story with many more words, but the author paints a wonderful full picture of the southwest and tells a powerful, heart and spirit moving story, with few words. I have read two of his books now and I will be reading more.

[Lesle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narration from Hal the nephew of a cattle baron James Brewton who has taken on the government owned land as his own which makes this ranch and rangeland immense. New homesteaders are coming and the Judge is wanting to put James in his place. Men despising each other.
James has a very lady like bride coming Lutie. Lutie is a breath of fresh air as the saying goes. Hal meets up with her at the station and instantly taken with her. Life moves on and three children are born. Lutie is escaping on the train for fear of the gossip of her affair with the lawyer.
Lutie returns about ten years later, not sure where she went and how she survived or how she never wanted to be a part of her children. The once admired ranch falls into an unkept state with only Hal left to what once was.

Richter's prose is detailed it does bring a very descriptive scene to life in one's mind. His character buildings are norm making it hard to connect to them, except Hal for me. The plight of the homesteaders that are coming to settle on the open range is not that they have money, but the number of the settlers that take over, they want a chance but the rain and water are scare to provide great farm lands of crops. The sea of grassland should have been left alone and not turned into farm fields that turned into a state of dusty fields. Prairie land was gone. Bringing this novella's tragedy to light of the land that clearly was a struggle not worth the endeavor.

The novel was adapted in 1947 as a film of the same name, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐
Read this in high school English, a while back. Don't recall a lot about it. It was a western, not unsimilar to what we watched on TV back then. The main female character was unhappy with being on the frontier, with its rough people. It didn't leave a strong impression. Mostly I remember I felt jealous of the English classes that were assigned Canticle for Leibowitz instead of this.

[Alan Marchant · Rating 3 out of 5]

needs a good mowing

The Sea of Grass is a tour-de-force of artistic prose. Conrad Richter's word painting of New Mexico at the end of the cowboy era is chock full of delightful metaphors and imagery.

The problem is that all that poetic language crowds out the dialog and characterization. So the story of macho Colonel Brewton and his mail-order bride falls as flat as a limp tortilla. The affection and forgiveness that Brewton lavishes on his whorish and supercilious wife is understandable only as a stereotypically proud male devotion. Her idolization by the rest of the town (including the young narrator) is not justified at all.

Read this novella strictly as an interesting period piece, ignoring the plot, and your time will not be wasted.

[Alexis Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the late 1800s, the Southwestern United States was the domain of the cattle baron. Herds of cattle roamed vast stretches of prairie; plump, like plump, four-legged fish in a sea of grass. That is, until farmers, or 'nesters', from the east swarm the plains, eager to carve up the expanse and try their hands at coaxing crops from the dry soil. With rancher Jim Brewton on one side and ambitious blonde attorney Brice Chamberlain on the other, conflict seems inevitable. When Brewton marries a city girl from back east, the conflict between the two men takes on a new dimension, and future generations will feel the repercussions.

This is not a plot book. I mean, some stuff happens, and there's, like, shootings and hangings and trials and (maybe) infidelity and plenty of shady behavior. But that's not really the point. Really, all that is just an excuse to meditate on the nature of the west and what it is and what it isn't. Oh, and to point out that apparently being a selfish jerk is genetic.

When we first meet attorney Brice Chamberlain, he seems--for a moment--to be a man of the people, a man out for justice and on the side of right. After all, he just wants to see that these farmers have a place to live and raise crops and pursue the American dream. A real hero-type, you know? Except, oh wait--they're in New Mexico, which means there's a legitimate question as to how much crop-raising the land will bear. There's a reason it's a sea of grass and not a sea of shrubs and trees and lush undergrowth. And sure enough, after [SPOILER] the farmers get their way, they get a few unusually wet seasons, produce some actual crops, and then promptly lose it all when the land resumes its normal arid state. They went and plowed up the range for nothing, and, in the process, killed the one thing that actually did well there (the grass), so that essentially all that's left is dust and sand. Way to go, farmers!

(Aside: This could be a great jumping off point for a discussion about how the argument 'but all people should have X!' sometimes runs aground on the reality of 'but X is not actually possible.' In this case, the 'right' everyone is demanding is his or her own land to farm. But giving them the land doesn't actually accomplish the goal, as the land simply cannot support crops. Nowadays, we want people to have different things--a house, a job, an education, medical care--but we can also run into trouble if we don't stop to think about both where this resource is coming from and whether the resource is sustainable. If we don't think about it ahead of time, we end up with a bunch of people who have houses but can't afford the payments, or who have advanced degrees and have no hope of ever paying of the loans they took out to finance their education, etc. The declaration that 'everyone should have X' does not, by itself, bring X into existence. End rant.)

By this time, we've seen Chamberlain's true colors, as he's pretty much been a total self-serving jerk who doesn't give a rat's patootie about anyone else. This is most notably demonstrated by [SPOILER] his apparent seduction of Brewton's young wife, who he persuades to run away with him to Denver, and then . . . he doesn't go! Yep, that's right. Old Jerkwad Chamberlain convinces another man's wife to leave her husband and go to a new city, and once she leaves, he decides to stay and accept a judicial appointment instead. The Honorable Brice Chamberlain indeed.

'Mean old rancher Brewton', meanwhile, has been kind of a prince in comparison. Sure, he has his hired hands run the 'nesters' off the range at gunpoint, but after his wife runs off, he ends up raising his kids as a single father . . . even the uber blonde one who doesn't bear much of a resemblance to Brewton himself and seems to have a knack for getting into trouble and generally being shady. Rumors abound, but Brewton steadfastly stands by his son, treating him just the same as his other kids and generally just trying to be a good dad. But blondie persists in being a punk, and like his (kind of awful) mother before him, prefers city life and socializing to the hardworking ranch lifestyle. I guess that's another theme of the book: city people kind of suck and can't be trusted.

So yeah. This is a story about awful people doing stupid, awful things to a slightly less awful guy. There's some excellent vaguely violet prose tucked in here and there, but honestly, I would have liked more. Richter is great at waxing eloquent about the beauty of the seemingly desolate plains and describing life there. Here's a sampling of some of my favorite passages:

That lusty pioneer blood is tamed now, broken and gelded like the wild horse and the frontier settlement.

His empire is dead and quartered today like a steer on a meat-block . . .

And I can see his huge parlor, without rugs or furniture, piled to the pine rafters with white sacks of flour and burlapped hills of sugar and green coffee, and wooden buttes of boxed tobacco, dried fruits, and canned tomatoes . . .

Bottom line: It's a decently written book, but not really a great 'Western.' It does make a nice counterpoint to the many Westerns wherein the cattle barons are the bad guys and the trod-upon farmers are the heroic underdogs taking on the Goliaths of the West. Best read in conjunction with other classic Westerns, though. I'm not sure it's quite sturdy enough to stand on its own as a classic.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Η θάλασσα του γρασιδιού", εκδόσεις Πεχλιβανίδη.

Ο Κόνραντ Ρίχτερ έχει γράψει διάφορα ενδιαφέροντα και αρκετά πολυδιαβασμένα μυθιστορήματα, όπως η τριλογία The Awakening Land (που αποτελείται από τα "The Trees", "The Fields" και "The Town") ή το "The Light in the Forest", αλλά δυστυχώς το "Η θάλασσα του γρασιδιού" είναι το μοναδικό που έχει μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά, απ'όσο γνωρίζω. Και λέω δυστυχώς, γιατί με βάση το βιβλιαράκι αυτό, φαίνεται για έναν εξαιρετικό συγγραφέα, σίγουρα πολύ κοντά στα αναγνωστικά μου γούστα.

Ο Ρίχτερ, μέσα σε σχετικά λίγες σελίδες, καταφέρνει να αποτυπώσει με ιδιαίτερη μαεστρία τις συγκρούσεις των πιονέρων κτηματιών και των καουμπόηδων, με τους αγρότες-νέους αποίκους, που ήθελαν να εγκατασταθούν και να δουλέψουν στις Νοτιοδυτικές περιοχές των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών -όπως το Νέο Μεξικό-, κατά τα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα. Μια κάποια πλοκή υπάρχει, όπως και ορισμένοι βασικοί χαρακτήρες, όμως το δυνατό σημείο του βιβλίου είναι αν μη τι άλλο η πραγματικά υπέροχη γραφή, με τις έντονα ρεαλιστικές και σε σημεία λυρικές περιγραφές τοπίων, καταστάσεων και ανθρώπων.

Ο συγγραφέας κατάφερε με χαρακτηριστική άνεση να με μεταφέρει πίσω στον χρόνο και σε άλλους τόπους, σκληρούς μα συνάμα μαγευτικούς, ενώ απέδειξε ότι ακόμα και ένα τόσο μικρό βιβλιαράκι μπορεί να διαθέτει ένταση και να χωρέσει δυνατές εικόνες. Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι ότι στο μέλλον θα διαβάσω και άλλα βιβλία του συγγραφέα, είτε μεταφραστούν κάποια δικά του είτε όχι.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a western published in 1937 by Pulitzer Prize winner Conrad Richter. It’s a small book at 147 pages but very descriptive of life in the Southwest United States at that time. The point of view is from a young boy Hal who lives on his uncle Jim Brewton’s cattle ranch. Much like Larry McMurtry’s early books, it tells of the conflict between cattle ranchers and the changing world. Jim Brewton marries a city girl named Lutie and she ends up leaving him and going back to her old life. The author is very good about writing descriptions of the landscape and how the skies seem to have a life of their own.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten how much I liked Conrad Richter. This is a short novel, so a quick read. He spins a good tale and writes beautifully. "And when I fell asleep I dreamed that something vaguely beautiful had gone out of this massive ranch house like the kernel of life out of a prairie seed, and all that remained was the brown shell of adobe walls staring from its empty sockets." I think he may have other books I haven't yet read. I will look for them.

[Morgan Plant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this last night when I couldn't sleep and finished it this morning. It is quick but lovely. Conrad Richter wrote it in 1936 and a movie starring Spencer Tracy was made of the story. Now I want to find the film. Set in New Mexico in early 1900s maybe. I just checked and New Mexico became a state in 1912. Lyrical descriptions of the land, good story (independent woman character included) and great depiction of the tension between the farmer and the cowmen.

[Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was my introduction to Conrad Richter's work. I was impressed by how he kept the story so concise and still explore deep conflicts and paint a vivid picture of the Southwest.

Despite its short length, the story never felt lacking to me. Quite the opposite. I thought there was a lot to take in. Richter’s writing gives the prairie a presence of its own--vast, untamed, and full of promise and danger for everyone living there.

I learned from a friend that there's also a movie loosely based on this with Katharine Hepburn. I don't generally watch Western movies, but just to experience Katharine Hepburn's acting, I want to check the movie out.

[El · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in a day over the weekend and then plum forgot to even log it here. I suppose it's because it was such a short book, but unfortunately I think it's really because I just put it out of my mind that quickly.

I'm normally all about early American fiction, even of the Southwestern variety, but this one barely made an impression on me. It's the story of Colonel Jim Brewton, his wife Lutie and another man, and of course there's a bit of a triangle. The writing isn't horrible, but it's like the trouble I had with Richter's The Light in the Forest. It felt drier than it needed to be (the writing I mean) and because of its length I felt it breezed by too quickly. Or too easily. Or something. Maybe Richter and I just plain do not jive.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a small book, this packs a pretty big punch. The characters are drawn almost larger than life, and the tensions -- between various individuals, as well as between ranchers and "nesters" -- make this an intense story first of all, though it also paints a vivid picture of a past time on the plains of New Mexico.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sea of Grass seems, if anything, better than I remembered from my first reading of probably 40 years ago. And the historical setting was much more meaningful having just read Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one day--probably 4 hours. It was great. Highly recommended.

This is the best review I could find:

http://saddlebums.blogspot.com/2007/1...

[Sskous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graceful, beautiful, evocative writing. Characters are deeply drawn, though the writing is very concise. Amazing work. I'm going to read more by Conrad Richter!

[Czarny Pies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Add two stars to my rating if you like Cowboy fiction.

"The Sea of Grass" is considered to be the chef-d'oeuvre of Conrad Richter, who during his life time, was considered to be a major writer in the U.S.A. winning with other works the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 and the National Book Award in 1961. Today he is virtually forgotten. "The Sea of Grass" has as I write a mere 549 ratings on GR. The problem is that Richter wrote about the Cowboys which is a topic that the reading public lost all interest in 50 years ago.
"The Sea of Grass" takes place as the "Frontier Era" in American history was coming to a close. While it certainly aims to perpetuate the myth of the heroic cowboy era, it also provides a reasonable assessment of how it came to an end. Col. Brewton, the protagonist, is a truly noble figure having fought in the Indian Wars to clear the way for white civilization, he proceeds to become a cattle baron; that-is-to-say, he builds an enormous herd of cattle that graze on the open prairie. The problem is that the government which owns the land that his livestock feeds on is determined to sell it to settlers. Brewton and Richter sneeringly refer to the settlers as "nesters" to draw attention to the fact that they are building their nests on land that Brewton and other cattle barons seized from the Indians.
The Colonel argues, correctly as it turns out, that the land his nomadic herd grazes on is too dry and at too high an elevation for sedentary farming. This matters not. The American government wants settlers to have their plots of land. Brice Chamberlain, an ambitious young District Attorney arrives in town, determined to make a career out of protecting the settlers from the Colonel who is using rough methods to intimidate them.
Unfortunately for the colonel he has to deal not only with the US government but also his perfidious wife who eventually becomes the mistress of the District Attorney and bears him a son. In the end the noble Colonel loses the war against the settlers and Uncle Sam but manages to retain his essential nobility. True to his honorable nature he even takes back his wayward wife.

[YAYabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

*E-I-E-I-O*

[John Whittemore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as an old ratty paperback when I was about 12, but the impression of Colonel Brewton is still strong in my mind.

This powerful man's graceful fall from influence and his relationship with his sons is something I still remember two decades later. It was my first interaction with a character so well written and complex that I believed in him. His struggles and failures mattered to me.

I really should read this book again, but I hesitate wondering if all the "great literature" I have read since then might erase the powerful effect it's memory still has on me.

If you appreciate character-driven stories I recommend this book.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was required reading in a Literary Genre class I took about novels. I’ll keep this short since I can’t say the novel had a big impact on me. However, the themes and characters are classical as billed. I love the energy and romanticism of frontier stories and the gritty determination of frontier characters. The only fault I could really find in this novel is I didn’t find it memorable. And that isn’t much of a fault in the context of a well-crafted story. A novel doesn’t have to wind up a favorite to have been worth reading.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather unusual book. It is short and a quick read. It is told from the point of view of a character who is not one of the main characters. This means he doesn't always know everything that takes place or why characters do the things they do. I found that a bit unsatisfactory. It is sort of a western set in New Mexico in the 1800s when the land was being homesteaded. It deals with the conflict between ranchers and homesteaders. There are some very larger-than-life characters and I enjoyed the book.

[Rita Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author created an impression of the frontier that was terrifying but convincing. It was more a story of the unsettled territory and the struggle between a cattle rancher and homesteaders than a character study. The main characters were convincing but not as important to the author as depicting the essence of the frontier. A powerful work for anyone who is interested in the settling of the west.

[Lisachan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellissimo Il mare d'erba, ancor più bello Gli alberi, secondo romanzo raccolto in quest'unico volume della Medusa. Non avrei mai pensato di potermi appassionare a tal punto alle vicende dei primi coloni americani, ma Richter è riuscito a dipingere un mondo estremamente lontano con una concretezza ed una poesia incredibilmente affascinanti. Spiace solo che nel volume non fossero contenuti anche I campi e La città, seguiti de Gli alberi, ma cercherò di recuperarli al più presto.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in the book is tight and focused. There are tightly controlled lyric passages. The picture of the period in the West is graphic. The story is trite in many ways, but the control makes it work. The ruin of the range mentality is carefully revealed in a somewhat parallel story. While I liked the book, I am grateful it is short, and may not have read a longer book by Richter. And the end is interesting; his Uncle's final words are a great resolution.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic southwestern tale written. Conrad Richter's makes the story and the characters come alive. He artfully weaves a tale of individuals into the changing society of the desert southwest as a new lifestyle entered the country and altered the landscape and way of life forever. A wonderful literary alternative for lovers of the prolific Louis L'Amour westerns.

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was our book group selection for February. I liked it in terms of a contrast to the Little House On The Prairie series we are reading aloud to the kids, because this book is told from the perspective of the white and Mexican ranchers who preceded the agricultural settlers in the southwestern U.S. The story focuses on a fallen woman who refuses to fall, and her son.

[Joseph Gendron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book; it was a quick and interesting read. The subject of the transformation of the land by settlement reasonated with me as I have seen the same effect where I live in a rural area of southwest NM. 35 years ago there was so much more open space in its natural state, now there is fencing, dogs, and an overgrazed landscape by the people who bought "ranchettes" to keep horses.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poor man's Willa Cather or Cormac McCarthy, but still very moving (if over flowery in the language department). This is the story of the settling of the Plains of NM which not only explores the struggle to tame an environment but also to tame our loves and desires. Richter's writing gives the story a mythical, elemental and timeless quality.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great quick read - only 150 pages. It was written back in 1930 about the time when cattlemen and settlers were battling over the southwestern prairies. The descriptions are so vivid you feel like you are right there.